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Magical Melodies
The Benefits of Music for You and Your Preterm Infant
By Tamar Weiss
Infants in NICU are not the only helpless ones. Parents who are unable to even hold their children are often at a loss for what to do to comfort and express love to them. "Music can empower parents to be more active in the child's treatment ... and teaching parents to use music interventions may offer added opportunity to bond with their newborns," Schreibman says.
"At first we felt so helpless in there," Kent says. "I at least was able to pump breast milk for the babies, but my husband felt like he wasn't able to do anything to help. But after a while, we both began to feel that by playing the music for them and leaving recordings of our voices when we weren't there, we were contributing to their health and well-being."
Melanie, a mother of 2-year-old twins from Pennsylvania, felt much the same way. "After becoming involved in playing music and singing to our twins in the NICU, we felt for the first time like we were helping them get well," she says. "To this day, my kids love Vivaldi, which we played for them, but they vastly prefer our singing. Even today it soothes them and helps them sleep."
Dr. Rick Lippin, chief medical officer for EarthMed.com, notes that the stress of the newborn baby and parents feed off each other. "This has a likely impact on professional staff in the care unit," he says.
Kent remembers that when her husband ultimately returned to work and she stayed in the NICU, she would sit next to the incubators and listen to what the babies were hearing. "I heard what they hear," she says. "It helped me focus; it was quiet time, soothing and almost meditative."
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