Parental contact in the neonatal special care unit.

Parental telephone calls and visits are analysed during the entire stay of the premature infant in the neonatal special care unit in Leuven, Belgium. It is concluded that the summation of parental visits and telephone calls is a better measure of parental contact than parental visits or parental telephone calls separately. This measure is significantly related to parental profession. It is not significantly related to the distance between the family home and the hospital, to the presence of a car or a telephone at home or to the presence of siblings. Parental contacts remain stable during the entire stay of the baby in the neonatal special care unit.