Special care babies are at the centre of a complex system of relationships involving both family members and professionals. Prematurity, disability and life-threatening situations create a crisis which is likely to have a different meaning for each participant. Each baby's developing relationships will both influence and be influenced by relationships within the hospital and the family system.
Key Features
- Insights into neonatal care: Understand how babies, their parents, and the staff who care for them experience neonatal care.
- Exploration of beliefs: Investigates institutional, cultural, and family beliefs about prematurity.
- Acknowledgment of differences: Emphasises the importance of recognising the differing beliefs and needs of parents and staff.
- Support for mother-child relationships: Highlights the key relationship that influences the baby's survival and future.
Additional Information
Special Care Babies and their Developing Relationships puts professionals in touch with how babies, their parents, and the staff who care for them actually experience neonatal care. Anne McFadyen argues that to support the key mother-child relationship, these differences must be acknowledged, as they are at the heart of the relationship between two crucial systems which have the power to influence the baby's survival and the rest of his or her life.
