‘Opportunity to bond and a sense of normality’: Parent and staff views of cuddling babies undergoing therapeutic hypothermia in neonatal intensive care: ‘CoolCuddle’

Background Currently, parents whose sick babies are undergoing three days of cooling therapy for hypoxic–ischaemic encephalopathy in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) are not permitted to cuddle their cooled babies, due to concerns of warming the baby or dislodging breathing tubes or vascular catheters. Parents want to stay and care for their cooled babies and have reported that bonding is adversely affected when they are not permitted to hold them. Design and Participants Qualitative interviews with 21 parents of cooled babies in NICU (11 mothers and 10 fathers) and 10 neonatal staff (4 consultants and 6 nurses) explored their views and experiences of an intervention to enable parents to cuddle their cooled babies (CoolCuddle). Thematic analysis methods were used to develop the themes and compare them between parents and staff. Results Five themes were produced. Three themes were comparable between parents and staff: Closeness, a sense of normality and reassurance and support. An additional parent theme reflected their mixed feelings about initial participation as they were apprehensive, but felt that it was an amazing opportunity. Parents and staff described the closeness between parents and babies as important for bonding and breastfeeding. Fathers particularly appreciated the opportunity to hold and bond with their infants. Parents valued the reassurance and support received from staff, and the cuddles helped them feel more normal and more like a family at a very stressful time. In a final staff theme, they discussed the skills, number of staff and training needed to undertake CoolCuddle in NICU. Conclusions Parents cuddling their babies during cooling therapy enhanced parent–infant bonding and family-centred care in NICU and was positively received. Adverse perinatal mental health, impaired mother–infant bonding and their effects on the establishment of breastfeeding may be ameliorated by introducing CoolCuddle. Patient Contribution Our parent advisors contributed to the interview topic guides and endorsed the themes from the analysis