Weill Cornell Medicine, 525 East 68th street, box 140, New York, NY 10065, United States of America.
Stanford University School of Medicine, 750 Welch Rd, Suite 315, Palo Alto, CA 94304, United States of America.
Early Hum Dev. 2021 Mar;154:105281. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105281. Epub 2020 Nov 16.
Premature and medically vulnerable infants experience early and sometimes prolonged separation from their parents, intrusive and unnatural environments, painful and distressing procedures, difficulties with physiological regulation, increased biological and neurological vulnerabilities, and grow up to have higher rates of neurocognitive and psychosocial difficulties. Parents of infants born prematurely or with medical vulnerabilities, in turn, experience significant distress and are a psychiatrically vulnerable population, with very high rates of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder. The combination of these factors cause significant challenges for some of these infants and parents in developing an early optimal relationship and connection. Given the critical importance of early relationships with main caregivers for infant mental health and long-term developmental outcomes, we review various targets of intervention to promote healthy infant and parent mental health and bonding thereby facilitating an optimal infant-parent relationship in the NICU population.
早产儿和有医学脆弱性的婴儿经历早期且有时长期与父母分离，置身于侵入性和不自然的环境中，接受痛苦和不适的治疗程序，生理调节困难，增加了生物学和神经学方面的脆弱性，长大后神经认知和心理社会困难的发生率更高。早产儿或有医学脆弱性的婴儿的父母则会经历明显的痛苦，他们是精神脆弱的人群，抑郁、焦虑和创伤后应激障碍的发生率非常高。这些因素的结合给一些婴儿和父母发展早期最佳关系和联系带来了重大挑战。鉴于与主要照顾者的早期关系对婴儿心理健康和长期发展结果的至关重要性，我们回顾了各种干预目标，以促进婴儿和父母的心理健康和结合，从而在新生儿重症监护病房人群中促进最佳的母婴关系。
