Each year, some 60,000 babies are born prematurely in French maternity hospitals. If their strictly medical care continues to progress, some hospitals are also starting to take an interest in the often stressful environment in which these toddlers will live their first weeks (or even first months) before being able to return home. At the neonatology department of the Nantes University Hospital, where 250 very premature babies (born between 6 and 7 months of pregnancy) are hospitalized each year, a somewhat special intensive care unit opened a few months ago. Objective: to give the baby in an incubator and his two parents the opportunity to live together throughout the period of care.
“There was a time when the child was completely cut off from its mother, sometimes for several weeks, recalls Philippe El Sair, director of the Nantes University Hospital. The scientific literature has since shown that maintaining the link is very important. “If the situation has improved in recent years (authorization of visits, 24 hours a day in most departments), there was still progress to be made according to the Berse association, at the initiative of this new chamber that the Secretary of State for Child Protection, Adrien Taquet, came to visit on Monday.
A real room around the incubator
“We wanted a room that offers a real reassuring living environment for the child, where the caregivers agree to withdraw a little, where the parents are no longer guests”, explains Patricia Saraux, vice-president of the Berse association. Around the incubator, everything is done for the comfort of the family: isolated thanks to a curtain, a sofa bed, for example, allows both parents to stay in place, without having to take turns. They also have storage, a fridge (especially for storing breast milk) or an adjoining kitchen.
If these arrangements seem harmless, they would nevertheless have a real impact on the health of the baby. The American program Nidcap, from which this bedroom project is inspired, has proven that a stronger presence of parents allows premature children to gain better weight, better development at 12 months or even a reduction in the length of hospitalization. “We forget the technical nature of care to strengthen the bond of attachment,” continues Patricia Saraux. We prioritize the natural side, for example by allowing the baby to regulate his heart rate just by placing it on his mother. “
The association hopes to fit out one or two new rooms of this type per year (cost of the first: 11,000 euros, financed through donations and partners) within the maternity ward, before the concept can be taken up in the construction of the new CHU, in 2026 on the island of Nantes. She also wishes to train new Nantes caregivers in the famous Nidcap techniques, for a more personalized follow-up of babies.