Environmental influences on the developing premature infant: theoretical issues and applications to practice

Abstract

The neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU) environment may interfere with the maturation and organization of premature infants' central nervous systems and may fail to meet these infants' developmental needs. In particular, immature distance receptors (i.e., hearing and vision) may receive overwhelming stimulation, whereas more mature tactile and vestibular pathways receive little stimulation. Furthermore, research on fetal learning suggests that the NICU environment should sensitively address requirements for learning by providing contingent experience. Nurses are ideally suited to reorganize the NICU and intervene to optimize infants' growth and development.