Creating a positive place and space in NICUs

There has been an increased focus on place and space within maternity and neonatal care and how configuration of space influences the experiences of parents, babies and staff. Furthermore, although there is increasing emphasis upon family-centred care, research shows wide differences in NICUs' provision of facilities to enable parental presence and involvement. In this article we refer to key findings from a recent ethnographic study on parents' and staff experiences related to feeding preterm babies in four NICUs in England and Sweden. We describe the ways in which design of space in NICUs influences infant feeding experiences and the developing parent-baby relationship.