Neonatal ehandbook: Developmental care for neonates

Key messages

Preterm infants are born prior to or during critical periods of brain development.
Developmental care aims to reduce stress on infants and promote neurological development.
Simple, easy to implement modifications to the nursery environment and care practices may help reduce morbidity.
Attention to noise, light and position of neonates can all help to reduce stress and maximise outcomes.

Developmental care is an approach to individualise care of infants to maximise neurological development and reduce long term cognitive and behavioural problems.

While advances in perinatal care have resulted in decreased mortality rates in preterm neonates, morbidity rates remain significantly high.

In addition to cerebral palsy, hearing loss, visual impairments and developmental delay, long term follow up studies have identified other important neurosensory impairments that may not become evident until preschool or school age such as cognitive and behavioural problems.

Preterm infants are born prior to or during critical periods of brain development. The third trimester of fetal development is a period of rapid brain growth and environmental influences eg noise or handling may impact on the developing brain.

Modifications to the nursery environment and care practices that may reduce morbidity can easily be implemented.

Goals of developmental care

The goals of developmental care for the infant are to:

reduce stress
conserve energy and enhance recovery
promote growth and well being
support emerging behaviours at each stage of neurodevelopmental maturation

The goals of developmental care for the family are to:

encourage and support parents in the primary caregiver role
enhance family emotional and social wellbeing