Mothers’ experiences after coming home from the hospital with a moderately to late preterm infant – a qualitative study

Abstract

Background Mothers of preterm infants are at greater risk of symptoms of stress and anxiety compared to mothers of term infants. Aims This study aimed to explore mothers’ experiences after coming home from the hospital with a moderately to late preterm infant. Methods A qualitative and explorative method was used. Ten mothers who had given birth to a preterm baby with a gestational age between 30.0 and 36.0 were interviewed. The interviews were conducted two to three months after the mothers and their babies were discharged from hospital. The data were analysed by means of latent and manifest qualitative content analysis. Findings One overall theme emerged from the analysis: ‘Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel’ and four categories were identified ‘Finding a safe haven at home’, ‘Gaining support and learning to ensure optimal feeding’, ‘Seeing the child's possibilities’ and ‘Receiving professional attention and reassurance’. In particular, adequate breastfeeding guidance and help with practical tasks at home were emphasised as important for the mothers, and need to be incorporated into the practice of public health nurses. Conclusions Practical help and support from close people, combined with individual professional follow‐up, were important for the mothers’ ability to cope with the hospital‐to‐home transition. There should be a strong focus on breastfeeding guidance as the mothers experienced problems for several months after discharge, and felt they were missing out on breastfeeding guidance given to term babies in hospital.

The transition home of extremely premature babies: An integrative review

“…A study by Breivold et al (2019) adds further support to this. These authors found a main theme analysed from parents views that they named as 'Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel' with four categories relating to family needs; 'Finding a safe haven at home', 'Gaining support and learning to ensure optimal feeding', 'Seeing the child's possibilities' and 'Receiving professional attention and reassurance'.…”

“…Caring for a newborn at home is demanding and time-consuming. A neonatal unit graduate with ongoing and often complex medical needs related to their extreme prematurity intensifies those demands (Berman et al, 2019;Breivold et al, 2019;Rio et al, 2020;Setiawan, 2020). Parents and their premature infants require significant support to make the transition from neonatal unit to home.…”

A Study of Maternal Competence in Preterm Birth Condition, during the Transition from Hospital to Home: An Early Intervention Program’s Proposal

“…That means that they should always keep in mind their child's birth weight in order to avoid making continuous comparisons with the evolutionary stages of full-term children. They should focus on the child's evolutionary resources and not just on the most obvious impairments [82]. They need to be supported and accompanied, starting from the time of hospitalisation [66,83,84].…”

A shorter breastfeeding duration in late preterm infants than term infants during the first year

“…Primary healthcare nurses are key to this process as they deliver home visits, which have been shown to improve breastfeeding rates. 27 However, some studies 28,29 have shown that most primary healthcare professionals follow the standards of care for term infants when delivering LPT infant care. This highlights the need for policies and evidence-based guidelines when caring for theses vulnerable, but somehow invisible, LPT infants.…”