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Not-So-Tiny Anxiety

Overcoming the Fear of Caring for Your Preemie

By Katherine Bontrager

"As parents become familiar with their premature baby and engage in his or her daily routine of care, their self-confidence will increase and their stress and anxiety will decrease, allowing for a smoother transition to home," Smith says.

Dr. Burke likewise encourages parents to spend as much time in the nursery with their premature newborn as their life will allow. "I definitely encourage parents to mimic the nurses when handling their premature children," he says. "I go further than simply having the parents copy what they see the nurses do. Asking the nurse for help – 'What's the best way to hold my baby?' or 'How much should I let her eat before I burp her?' – can be of great assistance for parents. No parent should fear that they are asking a stupid question. Stupid questions about how to care for a newborn don't exist."

And Dr. Burke says one of the best tools for building confidence is to assume the child's care for a day or two in the hospital before the baby is discharged. At the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital this approach is called "rooming in."

"After the parents have been taught how to care for their preemie – and this teaching can be quite complex, especially if the child is going home on oxygen therapy or will require tube feedings – the parents and the baby spend the last day or two of their hospitalization in a room near the nursery," Dr. Burke says.

During this trial run, parents assume the responsibility of caring for all their baby's needs from the simplest acts like changing a diaper or giving a bottle to the more complex acts lie giving medicines by mouth, changing out oxygen cylinders or performing tube feedings, Dr. Burke says. "If the parents can do everything their baby needs under the hospital's roof, there's no reason to think they can't do the same things under their own," he says.

Want to see more?

• Check out our Article Library.
• Welcome Home, Little One: Bringing Your Preemie Home
• The Kangaroo Care Method: Safe, Gentle Bonding Benefits Preemies
• Preemie Problems: Learn What to Expect and
  How to Cope
• Talk about it!