title: Parental presence and holding in the neonatal intensive care unit and associations with early neurobehavior.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effects of parental presence and infant holding in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) on neurobehavior at term equivalent.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective cohort enrolled 81 infants born 30 weeks gestation. Nurses tracked parent visitation, holding and skin-to-skin care throughout the NICU hospitalization. At term, the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale was administered. Associations between visitation, holding and early neurobehavior were determined using linear and logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean hours per week of parent visitation was 21.33±20.88 (median=13.90; interquartile range 10.10 to 23.60). Infants were held an average of 2.29±1.47 days per week (median=2.00; interquartile range 1.20 to 3.10). Over the hospital stay, visitation hours decreased (P=0.01), while holding frequencies increased (P<0.001). More visitation was associated with better quality of movement (P=0.02), less arousal (P=0.01), less excitability (P=0.03), more lethargy (P=0.01) and more hypotonia (P<0.01). More holding was associated with improved quality of movement (P<0.01), less stress (P<0.01), less arousal (P=0.04) and less excitability (P<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Infants of caregivers who were visited and held more often in the NICU had differences in early neurobehavior by term equivalent, which supports the need for and importance of early parenting in the NICU.
authors: Program in Occupational Therapy, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA. reynoldL@psychiatry.wustl.edu
authors: L C
authors: LC
authors: Reynolds
authors: M M
authors: MM
authors: Duncan
authors: G C
authors: GC
authors: Smith
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Mathur
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Neil
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Inder
authors: R G
authors: RG
authors: Pineda
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D018730:Infant Behavior; D007224:Infant Care / Q000523:psychology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D060127:Kangaroo-Mother Care Method / Q000523:psychology; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology; D014789:Visitors to Patients / Q000523:psychology*