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A Babies first Minutes on Earth
From the very first moment your child has started to receive stimulation from the world that surrounds him or her. Other noises, other smells, cold, heat. For the baby, there are a lot of other things that have suddenly changed too. The baby is no longer surrounded by a cozy space, sure and capable of holding him, but rather in an incubator, where is more or less measures has had to be manipulated in order for the baby to survive. In this first stage, as you may realize, things have not been easy for the baby either. If your baby cannot go out of the incubator because of the health risks involved, or because he or she cannot regulate their own body heat, don’t stand there with your arms crossed. Although nowadays there are different methods being used, which we will explain later, I am referring to the “mommy and daddy kangaroo method”, however you do have to know that if the baby is too small he or she will need to remain inside the incubator and will need of this thermal “crib” to keep him or her nice and warm. For this reason it would be convenient for you to become familiarized a little with the environment your child is in. For example, next time you are with your baby, look at the degrees that incubator registers. Your baby might be in one that indicates 32 to 34 degrees C. so that he or she is able to maintain a corporal temperature that is at 36,2 and 36,7 degrees C. Imagine that! Something as simple as this is a big challenge for the baby at this moment. But since you are the parents of your children, the fact that the baby is still maturing in many ways does not mean that he or she is not capable of receiving and feeling your love. During the stage in which the baby needs to be in the incubator, you will be able to look at him or her through the glass, however you can ask the nurses attending if it is possible to open one of the doors of the incubator so you can sing that song you loved singing during your pregnancy and that you sang over and over again in your daily walks in the park, or while you were doing the daily chores in your house. If the nurses and doctors allow it, ask for a protective mask to protect the respiratory passages of the baby and go for it, sing away, softly of course. If the personnel in the neonatal unit tell you that it is not necessary to open the door because the baby can hear you anyways, ask the person who told you this if they have ever been inside an incubator while it is working! The sounds and vibrations that go on inside the incubator are not silent at all! Evidently the only thing this is about is that you know how things work, and that you feel more confident and in consequence less anxious. If you do not work up the courage to sing then breathe near your baby very slowly, deeply and softly. This on one hand will help you to calm your own anxiety and take away your feeling of impotence; and when you connect with your baby through breathing rhythm you will be sharing the same air with your baby, the same oxygen. So that your breathing is clam, it is possible you will need to previously relax, so think of an image that relaxes you. If your baby is using a respirator, don’t doubt in talking to him or her. Your baby will perceive that it is you that is by his or her side. This is simply because the baby’s sense of smell is unbeatable. |
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