Developmental Care, Positioning (Neonatal)

Developmental Care, Positioning (Neonatal)

Introduction

In this essay I am going to write about developmental care positioning. Developmental care has become one of the standards of care across the world. It basically involves the developmental care taking of the infants in NICUs and also taking care of their family. In developmental care, different environmental measures like sound or lighting are essential to consider. However, developmental care is much more than this; it incorporates positioning and handling, type of the bed for infant to be housed, infant handling, way of interacting with infant/family, and incorporation of the family in care (Symington and Pinelli, 2002). Developmental care involves the care of infant not only at unit level but also at personal level of newborn. It considers the environmental aspects as well as the positioning and handling of a baby that affect the growth and development of infants especially the premature infants. Different researches support this notion through the evidences related to lightning, positioning, handling, ambient levels of sound, kangaroo care usage, and in fact pain management (Symington and Pinelli, 2002).

Developmental care is a strategy used by NICUs to help reduce the amount of stress that a premature infant is exposed to (Morrissette, 2012). Generally, the NICUs can be loud and bright places where alarm draws which makes it difficult for babies to rest, grow and get better. Therefore, developmental care supports NICUs to become more baby friendly (Morrissette, 2012).

The developmental care units for infants emphasize on and take extra care of positioning of infants because it is very important for their effective growth and can impact negatively if neglected. Thus, positioning of infants does matter and the nurses need to take great care in this regard. Different researchers have studied the effects of head-up versus head-down tilts and of prone versus supine sleep position on premature infants. Tilts are the position of acute changes within a few minutes, whereas in researches comparing prone or supine sleep positions the respective positions were assigned for periods of 3-6 hours (Browne et al., 2005).

Discussion

Different Types of Positioning and its Importance

There are different types of positioning strategies that can be helpful for effective developmental care of infants, however, if baby's positioning wouldn't be focused that it can result in negative outcomes. Therefore it is really important to understand and consider different positioning of infants.

Heads-up versus Head-Down Tilts

The acute position change of an infant by head-up tilt outcomes in a transient small drop of blood pressure which compensates by the heart rate increase, on the other hand, a head down tilt outcomes in a decrease of heart rate. This reflex is shown to be well developed already in term infants on day 1 of life, whereas, in premature infants of twenty eight to thirty two weeks, this reflex cannot be demonstrated continuously (Browne et al., 2005).

The 'Frog Position'

The arms and legs flop out to sides due to gravity which can lead to muscle imbalance. It can make infants feel unsafe and stressed, further this extended ...