The critical times: meeting parental communication needs throughout the NICU experience

The parental stresses caused by a premature birth and the NICU experience may create problems in the parent-child relationship. These problems may lead to subsequent difficulty in bonding or parenting, and may even be related to child neglect and abuse. The NICU staff is in a unique position to help minimize parental stress by providing information, support, and understanding to facilitate coping with fear and uncertainty. Parents need help in adjusting their expectations to reality, especially during the early days in the NICU. While the mother is still hospitalized, the father is in an especially vulnerable position, as he may be unprepared to be a primary caregiver, threatened by the female staff, and expected to assume a focal role while he may need comfort himself. Information that is most helpful to parents is that which helps return some control to them. Involving parents in the child's caregiving and in decision making also helps increase parental feelings of control and decrease feelings of stress. Attention should be paid to the questions and nonverbal communication of the parents to ascertain when communication is especially important. Key times during which communication is typically crucial are identified.