GLANCE

Preterm born infants need their parents – also in the NICU

Lal and Piril Okay are twins who were born preterm at 30 weeks of gestation in the late 1990s in Turkey. The two young women have decided to turn their experience as former preterm infants into their strength. Both are now studying medicine and hence after they have been familiar with their parents’ perspective on their time in the NICU, they also got to know the challenges of healthcare professionals to meet their patients’ needs and to fulfil their duties as healthcare providers. In a video statement for GLANCE, Lal and Piril share how their own preterm birth has potentially influenced their personalities compared to their term-born peers. Yet, they also reflect on the situation in NICUs worldwide and how it must feel for parents to not have any or very limited access to their hospitalised baby. “Parents are waiting anxiously behind closed doors and we, therefore, encourage policymakers to consider the social, emotional and developmental impacts of separating sick and early-born babies from the only people that they know in the world. “. In support of the Zero separation campaign, they want to use their voice to support parents and hospitalised newborns to remain together during clinical care also now in times of the pandemic.

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