Providing facilities for parents to stay in the neonatal unit from admission to discharge may reduce the total length of stay for infants born prematurely. The reduced risk of moderate-to-severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia needs additional investigation.

MLBW infants have relatively high risks of ID and IDA, especially if they are breastfed. Iron supplementation at 2 mg/kg per day from 6 weeks to 6 months reduces this risk effectively, with no short-term adverse effects on morbidity or growth.

AimLittle is known about the amount of physical parent–infant closeness in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), and this study explored that issue in six European countries.MethodsThe parents of 328 preterm infants were recruited in 11 NICUs in Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Italy and Spain. They filled in daily diaries about how much time they spent in the NICU, in skin‐to‐skin contact (SSC) and holding their babies in the first two weeks of their hospitalisation.ResultsThe parents' NICU presence varied from a median of 3.3 (minimum 0.7–maximum 6.7) to 22.3 (18.7–24.0) hours per day (p < 0.001), SSC varied from 0.3 (0–1.4) to 6.6 (2.2–19.5) hours per day (p < 0.001) and holding varied from 0 (0–1.5) to 3.2 (0–7.4) hours per day (p < 0.001). Longer SSC was associated with singleton babies and more highly educated mothers. Holding the baby for longer was associated with gestational age. The most important factor supporting parent–infant closeness was the opportunity to stay overnight in the NICU. Having other children and the distance from home to the hospital had no impact on parent–infant closeness.ConclusionParents spent more time in NICUs if they could stay overnight, underlining the importance that these facilities play in establishing parent–infant closeness.

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NIDCAP does not seem to have detrimental effects on Swedish very low birth weight infants in comparison with conventional care. Indeed, NIDCAP might even be advantageous.