A brand new video on skin-to-skin contact premiered at the LCANZ conference this month. Directed by Healthy Children Project’s Kajsa Brimdyr, The 9 Stages of Premature Infants shows the nine stages as demonstrated by premature infants. Because premature infants are so vulnerable, they are often swaddled, separated from their mother, and placed in a cot or an incubator. However, it’s been shown that premature babies regulate their temperature and make greater developmental progress when placed in skin-to-skin contact with a parent. This video release compliments the publication of a related article by Dr. Brimdyr and Dr. Karin Cadwell in Breastfeeding Review, titled, Connecting the dots between fetal, premature and full-term behaviour while in skin-to-skin contact: The nine stages of instinctive behaviour.

The DVD includes:

• The 9 Stages of Premature Infants While Skin-to-Skin (32 min.)
• Connecting the Dots Between Full Term and Preterm Behaviors While Skin-to-Skin (28 min.)
• Preterm Infants’ Breastfeeding Behaviors While Held Skin-to-Skin: Advice for Staff (9 min.)
• Overviews of the 9 stages, featuring footage of premature infants (30 sec. / 80 sec. / 4 min.)

The 9 Stages of Premature Infants While Skin-to-Skin features a conversation between Dr. Brimdyr and Dr. Renee Flacking, Professor of Pediatric Nursing at Dalarna University in Sweden, illustrated by amazing footage of premature infants as they go through those nine special stages: the Birth Cry, Relaxation, Awakening, Activity, Rest, Crawling, Familiarization, Suckling, and Sleeping.

In Connecting the Dots Between Full Term and Preterm Behaviors While Skin-to-Skin, Dr. Brimdyr shares footage of full-term infants and preterm infants as they go through each of the nine stages.

In Preterm Infants’ Breastfeeding Behaviors While Held Skin-to-Skin: Advice for Staff, Dr. Flacking talks about the immense benefits hospitals in Sweden are seeing after making this paradigm shift and steps that all NICU units can take to encourage more closeness and togetherness between premature infants and their parents in the NICU.

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