| dc.description.abstract | Introduction: the admission of a newborn in a Neo-
natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is usually a traumatic and unexpected experience for families, which breaks
into their lives in the form of a vital crisis, with a strong
emotional impact. The permanence of parents within
NICUs and their inclusion in the care of their children
brings multiple benefits in terms of growth and devel-
opment, the establishment of effective breastfeeding,
increased attachment, and post-discharge security
and confidence; nevertheless, it is a measure whose
implementation seems to be resisted by health teams.
The present study describes and analyzes the percep-
tions of mothers regarding the care received by new-
borns during their admission to the NICU.
Material and methods: In-depth interviews were con-
ducted with mothers whose newborns were admitted
to the NICU and who met the inclusion criteria. The
stories were analyzed and the thematic axes and cate-
gories were determined.
Results: the most relevant categories were: unpre-
dictability of premature birth, delay in making the first
contact with the baby after birth, deficits in accompa-
niment and containment during the first entry to the
NICU, poor communication, restricted parental entry
every three hours, limited possibility of participation
in care, non-explicit and contradictory regulations
(professional-dependent), difficulties and delays to
have physical contact with the newborn and rare skin-
to-skin contact.
Conclusions: mothers perceive strong limitations re-
lated to entering the NICU and participating in the
care of their children. In some cases, these limitations
are naturalized by mothers who assume that such ex-
clusion is necessary for the well-being of the baby. The
time within the Unit was perceived as insufficient and
the possibility of entering and remaining as a favor
granted by the institution according to certain non-ex-
plicit guidelines. | en_US |
