Impact of an infant's premature birth on the grandparents and parents.

Although the reactions of a family to the premature birth of an infant have been studied increasingly in recent years, the family examined has been limited almost exclusively to the parents. An exploratory survey examined the feelings, perceptions and experiences of 83 grandparents and 50 parents of premature infants. Results indicated that the impact of a premature birth was intensely felt by parents and grandparents. Both groups experienced similar reactions to the initial appearance of the neonate and neonatal intensive care unit environment and to visiting policies. Parents received most of their information about premature infants directly from nurses, doctors, and the parent support group, whereas grandparents had to rely on the newborn's parents.