This study explored effects of exposure to maternal voice on short-term outcomes in very low birth weight preterm infants cared for within an neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) without an ongoing program of developmental care. Using a comparative design, 53 infants born during their 27th to 28th postmenstrual week were sampled by convenience. Experimental groups were exposed to maternal voice during two developmental time periods. Group 1 listened to a recording of their mothers reciting a rhyme from 28 to 34 postmenstrual weeks. Group 2 waited 4 weeks and heard the recording from 32 to 34 weeks. The control group received routine care. The primary analysis of combined experimental groups compared to the control group revealed that the experimental infants experienced significantly fewer episodes of feeding intolerance and achieved full enteral feeds quicker compared to the control group. Further, in an analysis evaluating all three groups separately, it was noted that Group 1 experienced significantly fewer episodes of feeding intolerance compared to the control group. Study findings warrant further investigation of exposure to maternal voice and the developmental timing at which exposure is begun.
Accessibility to health care is crucial to management of chronic and acute conditions. Although the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic significantly impacts the issue of access to health care, with the introduction of Waiver 1135, telehealth has become a positive strategy in increasing safe access to health care. This report addresses considerations to take into account when advanced practice registered nurses use telehealth to facilitate access to care.
The temperatures of study infants reached and remained at the thermoneutral range during breastfeeding in skin-to-skin contact. The data suggest that mothers may have the ability to modulate their infant's temperature during skin-to-skin contact if given the opportunity. Hospital staff and parents can be reassured that, with respect to their temperature, healthy newborn infants, with or without breastfeeding difficulties, may safely breastfeed in skin-to-skin contact with their mothers.
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