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NeoReviews Vol.5 No.10 2004 e397
© 2004 American Academy of Pediatrics

Historical Perspectives

Parents in the Preterm Nursery and Subsequent Evolution of Care

	Introduction

 
When my elder daughter was born 40 years ago, I was the pediatric resident "on service" for the delivery room. However, as the prospective father, I was excluded from the delivery room. In that era, too, it was the norm for parents to view their preterm (premature) infants through glass –either of the door or windows opening onto the "premature nursery." Nurseries that housed preterm infants were the domain of the nursing staff, and even the doctors were allowed to enter somewhat reluctantly. Caps, gowns, masks, and overshoes were standard and contributed to the aura that this was a very private place that required limited access.

How things have changed! Fathers now not only are encouraged to be in the delivery rooms, even for cesarean sections, but also (like mothers) to participate in skin-to-skin contact with their preterm infants. Rather than being exclusionary, the number of visitors to neonatal intensive care units (parents, grandparents, siblings, therapists of different types, subspecialists, medical students) can make them very crowded places at times. Much of this change comes from the work of Marshall Klaus and John Kennell, who describe in the accompanying article how parent-infant interaction has evolved over the last 40 years.

Alistair G.S. Philip, MD, FRCPE

Coeditor, NeoReviews

The first study to investigate the feasibility of permitting parents into the preterm nursery began in December 1964, at Stanford University, California. Barnett and associates (1) questioned whether parents of preterm infants suffered from severe deprivation because of separation from their hospitalized infants. For a 2-year period, we studied the practicality of allowing mothers (total of 44) into the nursery soon after birth, first to handle and then to feed their infants while they were still in incubators. The mothers, because of state rules, wore masks and gowns, and the nurses in the unit instructed them in handwashing . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Marshall Klaus, MD

Professor
University of California at San Francisco

John H. Kennell, MD

Emeritus Professor
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio

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This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. Westrup Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP): Family-centered Developmentally Supportive Care NeoReviews, March 1, 2005; 6(3): e115 - e122. [Full Text] [PDF]