The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of mothers of preterm infants during the first 6 months at home following discharge from a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). A purposeful sample of 8 mothers was gathered and interviews were conducted over a 4-month period. Each interview was audio recorded and took place in the study participant's home or another place of her choosing. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed independently with themes being identified and organized for each participant. From these analyses, the themes of fear, exhaustion, determination, and thankfulness were identified as being common to all study participants and became the basis for developing the essence of the phenomenon. The essence of this experience for these mothers was their resolve to do whatever was necessary to ensure the best possible outcomes for their infants. The data gathered from these personal interviews will serve to further inform our understanding of this important time from the perspective of those who experienced it, as well as aid in the design of interventions to address the specific needs of these mothers prior to NICU discharge.

Preterm birth (PTB; spontaneous delivery prior to 37 weeks gestation) affects one out of eight infants born in the United States and is the most common cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Although the pathogenesis of PTB is multifactorial, a growing body of literature supports the hypothesis that one cause of PTB is inflammation in pregnancy. Investigators have implicated mediators of inflammation, most notably proinflammatory cytokines, as being associated with and perhaps a playing a causal role in the pathogenesis of preterm labor and adverse early fetal outcomes. Though researchers have pursued the association of cytokines with preterm labor and subsequent early adverse fetal outcomes as a line of research, there has been little integration of diverse findings across studies. This systematic review appraises the empirical evidence from human studies for the association of levels of cytokines in blood with preterm labor and adverse early fetal outcome to examine the current state of the science in this important area of biobehavioral research. The most consistent finding is that increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines, particularly interleukin (IL) 6, IL-beta1, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), are associated with PTB as compared to levels found at term birth. However, there have been relatively few studies and results have not been consistent. Therefore, further research is needed to elucidate the association of these inflammatory mediators with adverse pregnancy outcomes.

BackgroundWhile therapy services may start in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) there is often a gap in therapy after discharge. Supporting Play Exploration and Early Development Intervention (SPEEDI) supports parents, helping them build capacity to provide developmentally supportive opportunities starting in the NICU and continuing at home. The purpose of this single blinded randomized pilot clinical trial was to evaluate the initial efficacy of SPEEDI to improve early reaching and exploratory problem solving behaviors.MethodsFourteen infants born very preterm or with neonatal brain injury were randomly assigned to SPEEDI or Usual Care. The SPEEDI group participated in 5 collaborative parent, therapist, and infant interventions sessions in the NICU (Phase 1) and 5 at home (Phase 2). Parents provided daily opportunities designed to support the infants emerging motor control and exploratory behaviors. Primary outcome measures were assessed at the end of the intervention, 1 and 3 months after the intervention ended. Reaching was assessed with the infant supported in an infant chair using four 30 s trials. The Early Problem Solving Indicator was used to evaluate the frequency of behaviors during standardized play based assessment. Effect sizes are including for secondary outcomes including the Test of Infant Motor Performance and Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development.ResultsNo group differences were found in the duration of toy contact. There was a significant group effect on (F1,8 = 4.04, p = 0.08) early exploratory problem-solving behaviors with infants in the SPEEDI group demonstrating greater exploration with effect sizes of 1.3, 0.6, and 0.9 at the end of the intervention, 1 and 3 months post-intervention.ConclusionsWhile further research is needed, this initial efficacy study showed promising results for the ability of SPEEDI to impact early problem solving behaviors at the end of intervention and at least 3 months after the intervention is over. While reaching did not show group differences, a ceiling effect may have contributed to this finding. This single blinded pilot RCT was registered prior to subject enrollment on 5/27/14 at ClinicalTrials.Gov with number NCT02153736.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12887-018-1011-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Early mother-infant interaction, a potentially major contributor to the development of a premature infant's behavioral and physiologic regulation, has received very little research attention. This study examined the development of physiologic regulation in relation to maternal-infant feeding interaction for 43 premature infants, from the time caregiving responsibility was transferred to the mother through each infant's 4th postterm month. Infants and mothers were seen in a special care nursery just before discharge and in home at 1 and 4 months postterm age. General linear mixed models were used to examine the changes in infant heart rate variability (HRV) and Positive Affective Involvement and Sensitivity/Responsiveness scores over time and infant HRV over feeding conditions (prefeeding, feeding, and postfeeding). Significant differences were found for high-frequency and low-frequency HRV over time (p < .001 and p = .014, respectively). However, maternal feeding behavior did not show a significant effect of time (p = .24). The feeding condition effect on high-frequency HRV was significant (p < .001), with HRV lower during feeding compared to both prefeeding and postfeeding. Maternal feeding behavior was not associated with infant HRV. Discovering the ways in which maternal feeding behavior contributes to infant physiologic regulation may require study of the relationship of HRV to infant feeding behavior.

Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) affects 3.39 in every 1,000 live births. A literature review was conducted to determine the varying types of nonpharmacologic management being used currently and its effect on the treatment of NAS symptoms. Fourteen articles were found that used nonpharmacologic management in the treatment of NAS. Therapies included breastfeeding, positioning, rooming-in, acupuncture/acupressure, and beds. Each of the nonpharmacologic therapies in these articles, with the exception of rocking beds, was shown to have a positive effect on the newborn with NAS. These effects include a shorter length of stay, a decrease in NAS scores, a decrease need for pharmacologic treatment, less agitation, a better quality of sleep, and a decrease in the severity of NAS symptoms. This review article shows that nonpharmacologic management is an effective tool for NAS symptom treatment.

A growing body of literature supports the relationship of maternal inflammation with preterm birth and adverse neonatal outcomes, including infection and central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction. Mediators of inflammation, most notably proinflammatory cytokines, have been implicated as having an association with and perhaps playing a causal role in the pathogenesis, leading to adverse neonatal outcomes. Even though the association of cytokines with early adverse neonatal outcomes has been actively pursued as a line of research, there has been little integration of diverse findings across studies. Therefore, the purpose of this systematic review was to appraise and classify empirical evidence from human studies for the association of cytokine levels in blood (serum, plasma, or cells; maternal, cord, or neonatal) with two adverse early outcomes in preterm infants: early infection and increased risk of neurologic damage. The review revealed that the proinflammatory cytokines most frequently linked with sepsis are in the interleukin (IL) 1 family as well as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and IL-6. The proinflammatory cytokines most frequently linked to neurologic insult in the reviewed studies were IL-1beta, IL-6, and IL-8. In all cases where IL-1beta was studied, the levels were increased when there was neurologic insult. A better understanding of the relationship of these inflammatory substances with these adverse conditions is needed for the future development of maternal and neonatal biobehavioral nursing research.

Objective To describe the development and evaluation of an observation system to assess the process of mother-infant feeding interaction relevant to infant neuro-behavioral regulation: the Mother-Infant Feeding Tool. Design Secondary analysis. Setting Special care nursery just before discharge and in the home at 1 and 4 months postterm age. Participants Forty-three mother-infant dyads. Methods Videotaped feeding interactions were examined to assess regulatory processes of mother-infant interaction. Data were collected at three times over the infant’s first 4 postterm months: before the infant’s discharge from the special care nursery and at 1 and 4 months postterm age in the home. Results Across all three data points mothers rarely talked to their infants. Conclusion Further testing is needed, but the Mother-Infant Feeding Tool shows promise in assessing very early mother-infant feeding interactions.