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Updated: Nov 26, 2025

Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
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Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Published on: January 7, 2020

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Delivery room cuddles for extremely preterm babies and parents: concept, practice, safety, parental feedback

Paul Clarke1,2, Emma Allen1, Sheila Atuona1

  • 1Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Norwich, UK.

Acta Paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992)
|December 11, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Delivery room cuddles for extremely preterm babies are safe and feasible. This practice supports parental bonding, lactation, and maternal mental health, offering significant value in family-centered care.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal care
  • Perinatal psychology
  • Maternal-infant bonding

Background:

  • Traditional neonatal care prioritizes immediate intensive care for extremely preterm infants, often delaying parental physical contact.
  • Early parental-infant physical contact is increasingly recognized for its importance in bonding and maternal well-being.
  • The practice of 'delivery room cuddles' for extremely preterm infants has not been widely studied.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the safety and value of routinely implementing delivery room cuddles for extremely preterm infants.
  • To assess the impact of delivery room cuddles on infant stability and parental experience.

Main Methods:

  • A case-control review of infants born before 27 weeks' gestation who experienced delivery room cuddles between 2006 and 2017.
  • A questionnaire survey of mothers who participated in the delivery room cuddle practice to gather feedback.

Main Results:

  • No significant differences were observed in infant age or temperature upon admission to the neonatal unit.
  • No instances of inadvertent extubation were associated with the delivery room cuddle practice.
  • Mothers reported overwhelmingly positive feedback and experiences with the delivery room cuddles.

Conclusions:

  • Delivery room cuddles are a feasible and safe family-centered care practice for extremely preterm infants, regardless of gestational age.
  • Facilitating early physical contact through cuddles is highly valued by parents.
  • This practice shows potential benefits for infant bonding, maternal lactation, and maternal mental health.
Abstract

Keywords:
Contactbondingfamily-centred careneonatalprematurity

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