Table 3 Closeness and Separation Events Identified by NICU Nurses
Closeness events | Examples |
Attentive presence at infant’s bedside | Being present and engaged with the infant including admiring and observing |
Physical contact | Touching, hand holding or cuddling the infant while in cot or incubator, holding in parent’s arms and skin to skin contact |
Events that result in increased physical proximity between infant and parent | Transfer of the infant to the ward where the mother was hospitalized or to an NICU closer to home, infant home on day pass or discharge home |
Parent-infant interaction | Eye contact, talking, singing, reading, story-telling, and reacting to the infant’s cues |
Typical infant caregiving and NICU care | Diapering, bathing, taking temperature, comforting a distressed infant during normative (i.e., a bath) or non-normative events (i.e., heel stick or I.V. line insertion), and feeding or participation in providing nutrition to the infant (e.g.: pumping breast milk, bottle, breast or gavage feeding) |
Exchange of information between parents and NICU staff | Information about infant’s condition, care, or behavior while parents present in the unit or elsewhere (i.e., home) |
Being together “as a family” with the infant | Intimate moments where family members were assembled together and visibly enjoying the experience and one another (whether mother and/or father were present, with or without siblings) |
Separation events | Examples |
Not physically present and no other form of contact with the infant or staff | Parents do not visit the unit or call to ask about the infant’s condition |
Physically present but not engaged with infant | Parents talking together at the bedside without interest in or involvement with the infant |
Departures from the bedside | Leaving to eat or sleep or care for siblings, going home or to maternity ward for the mother’s own care |
Transitions from physical contact | Need to return the infant to the incubator or end skin to skin contact for any number of reasons including procedures or monitor alarm |
Declining the nurse’s offer to have physical contact with the infant or provide care | Despite encouragement, the parent could not engage with infant due to own stress or discomfort |