Strengthening Parent-Infant Bonds

By Karen Cheng, Charles Drew University, FitBaby Principal Investigator.

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To watch a parent care for a high-risk infant is like watching someone do the impossible: frequent feedings with special formulas and/or g-tubes, administering a slew of medications, endless doctor’s appointments.  All this while trying to care for other kids, and if time permits, maintain one’s personal relationships and health. 

For many parents of high-risk infants, these tasks can get in the way of bonding with the infants. 

The families come out [of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit] and they don’t have a normal relationship with their baby.... They’re struggling with having a child who is ultra-fragile….  so they don’t normalize their life…. this child is treated one way and other children are treated a different way…
            -  Clinician 1 from  Early Developmental Assessment Center

In response to this concern, we are considering ways to use technology to help focus parents’ attention on  bonding with their infants.  For example, giving daily reminders to parents at the end of each day might encourage them to relax and spend a few quiet minutes with their babies: talking, singing, reading, and so on. These reminders can also prompt parents to record whether they have been doing these activities.  We can then show the data on these daily activities to parents through their phones and hopefully encourage them to keep doing these behaviors.  Our hope is that FitBaby not only uses observations of daily living to improve the care and communication between caregivers and health care providers but can help parents set aside time each day to just enjoy being with, and bonding with, their child.