FACTS EVERY PARENT SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THEIR BABY’S BRAIN
All babies are born too early If it weren’t for the size limitations of a woman’s pelvis, babies would stay developing in the womb for considerably longer, comparative biologists have suggested. Some pediatricians label a baby’s first three months of life as the “fourth trimester” of pregnancy to emphasize how needy, and yet devoid of […]
SOUND EXPOSURE FOR PREMATURE BABIES IN NICUs
Premature babies often spend the first several weeks of life in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), where, ideally, they are protected from too much noise stimulation. However, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that preemies may be exposed to noise levels higher than those deemed safe by the American […]
THE ROLE OF VOCALIZATION IN INFANT MASSAGE
Another element in the dance of bonding is vocalization. From the moment she first responded to sound at around seven months gestation, your infant has been listening to your voice. Her body moves in rhythm with your speech patterns, and the high-pitched tone you use when talking to her is particularly sweet to her ears. […]
WORLD PREMATURE BABY DAY—NOVEMBER 17
Premature Babies Need a Special Kind of Touch We know how important it is to hold our babies close, right from the start. We put a lot of planning into those first few hours and weeks, arranging to avoid the interruptions that would unnecessarily deprive our babies of those precious moments of bonding time. When […]
Music Therapy Helps Preemie Babies Thrive
Music therapy analysis, of over a dozen clinical trials, found that music therapy helped stabilize premature newborns’ breathing rate during their time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). For the most part, music therapy involved mothers singing to their babies (though some studies used recordings of mom’s voice). And that’s key, the researchers said. […]
A NICU is Using Mothers’ Voices To Help Babies
Therapists at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital are using mothers’ voices to care for premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. The babies are born several weeks premature in many cases, so music therapists simulate the sounds a baby would hear in the womb during the third trimester. Nurses play the infants personalized playlists at […]