Bonding and Attachment with Baby in the Womb or in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: The Critical Role of Early Emotional Connections

Raylene Phillips

doi:10.1016/j.cnc.2023.11.002

Bonding and Attachment with Baby in the Womb or in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: The Critical Role of Early Emotional Connections

Raylene Phillips

Pediatric Neonatology Division

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Bonding and attachment are known to be critically important for the well-being of infants and children. Both bonding and attachment can begin before birth, which impacts fetal and infant brain development and may improve birth outcomes. Babies in the womb and preterm babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) can hear and respond to maternal voices with positive effects on physiologic stability, brain development, and language development. Supporting emotional connections before and after birth is the responsibility and the privilege of health-care providers who care for pregnant mothers and babies in the NICU.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	157-165
Number of pages	9
Journal	Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America
Volume	36
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnc.2023.11.002
State	Published - Jun 2024

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Critical Care

Keywords

Attachment
Bonding
Emotional connections
Fetus
Premature infant
Preterm
Child Development/physiology
Object Attachment
Humans
Infant, Premature/psychology
Mother-Child Relations/psychology
Emotions
Pregnancy
Intensive Care Units, Neonatal
Female
Infant, Newborn

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10.1016/j.cnc.2023.11.002

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Bonding and Attachment with Baby in the Womb or in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: The Critical Role of Early Emotional Connections

Abstract

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Keywords

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