When my twins arrived three months early, I was overwhelmed with feelings of guilt and inadequacy as a mother. During their stay in the NICU, my babies faced numerous medical challenges, making it difficult for me to form the usual bonds. There were instances when I couldn’t even hold them for months.
Despite the medical team taking on many of my responsibilities, I found solace in reading to my babies. I would read to them before surgeries and every night before I left to go home. I even read to my firstborn son, Noah, during his final moments due to complications from necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
Research supports what we often feel intuitively: reading has neuroprotective benefits for infants. When families read to their little ones, they are fostering cognitive, language, and emotional development. This shared experience allows parents to be close to their babies, offering much-needed comfort during a challenging time. Engaged NICU parents often feel more empowered to be active participants in their child’s care.
The advantages of reading extend beyond the babies; it also greatly benefits NICU parents. Engaging in reading can provide a sense of normalcy amidst the chaos. It allows families to create lasting memories, especially when the stories resonate with their experiences or are nostalgic for the parents.
After Noah’s passing, I yearned for ways to keep his memory alive. I realized that reading had played a vital role in our NICU journey, providing comfort and connection. With the support of a wonderful community, we established a giving library at our NICU, donating thousands of books so each family could receive a new book weekly during their baby’s stay.
Just like leading NICUs ensure mothers have access to breast pumps and preemies receive human milk, they should also provide families with access to storybooks. Reading together is an impactful, cost-efficient strategy for promoting parent-child bonding and enhancing the well-being of overwhelmed NICU families. Storybooks should be regarded as essential tools in the NICU, not only for their immediate benefits but also for cultivating a love of reading that lasts a lifetime. By normalizing reading in the NICU, we can help families establish a daily reading habit.
Having a baby in the NICU can be life-altering, and books can help families navigate this trauma. For us, reading with our twins helped us cope with daunting diagnoses and the anxiety of our NICU experience. In Noah’s final hours, we pressed his handprints into his favorite books, and today we share those stories with his siblings, who enjoy seeing their hands alongside their brother’s prints.
Book Suggestions for NICU Families
To inspire other NICUs to start their own giving libraries, here are some beloved book suggestions:
- “Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You” by Emma Carter
- “You Are My I Love You” by Maryann K. Cusimano
- “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper
- “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown
- “All the World” by Liz Garton Scanlon
- “On the Night You Were Born” by Nancy Tillman
- “The I Love You Book” by Todd Parr
- “You Are My Sunshine,” illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church
- “The Crown On Your Head” by Nancy Tillman
- “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church
NICUs can partner with their child life programs, family advisory councils, or local bookstores to establish a giving library. Community members can be encouraged to donate new books for NICU families to enjoy.
For more insights on navigating the NICU experience, check out this article on home insemination and explore resources on pregnancy and self insemination.
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In summary, providing books to NICU families is a powerful way to promote bonding and emotional well-being. Reading can help alleviate some of the stresses of being in the NICU, creating cherished memories and nurturing lifelong readers. By implementing giving libraries, NICUs can enhance the experience of families during a challenging time.
Keyphrase: NICU books for babies
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