26 PRE-TERM INFANTS: POSTNATAL ILLNESS AND EARLY HOME CARE

Abstract

There has been some speculation that neonatal illness may interfere with subsequent maternal care. Contrary to this speculation, neonatal illness in pre-term infants tended to enhance rather than diminish maternal caregiving effort as assessed in the home. Naturalistic observations were made in the home at one month past the infant's expected date of birth, 44 weeks conceptional age. The home behaviors were related to assessments of obstetrical and postnatal complications (Obstetrical Complications Scale and Postnatal Complications Scale) in a group of 122 pre-term infants. Caregiving behaviors were more strongly related to postnatal illness than to obstetrical complications. All relationships that were significant between the caregiver's behavior and the illness of the infant were such that the sicker infant received more attentiveness than the less sick infant. The increased attentiveness was evidenced in social interaction, verbal stimulation, and caretaking. The results suggest that the caregivers of the babies who have experienced more neonatal complications have not pulled away from or rejected their infants. Although the relationships were moderate and accounted for only a small amount of the variance in the caregiver's behavior, the results do suggest that withdrawal from the sick infant is not a necessary outcome.

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