Associations between maternal hormonal biomarkers and maternal mental and physical health of very low birth weight infants

The purpose of this study was to determine whether maternal mental and physical health is associated with maternal testosterone and cortisol levels, parenting of very low birth weight infants, physical exercise, and White vs non-White race. A total of 40 mothers of very low birth weight infants were recruited from a neonatal intensive care unit at a University Hospital in the Southeast United States. Data were collected through a review of medical records, standardized questionnaires, and biochemical measurement. Maternal mental and physical health status using questionnaires as well as maternal testosterone and cortisol levels using an enzyme immunoassay were measured four times (birth, 40 weeks postmenstrual age [PMA], and 6 and 12 months [age of infant, corrected age]). General linear models showed that higher testosterone levels were associated with greater depressive symptoms, stress, and poorer physical health at 40 weeks PMA, and at 6 and 12 months. High cortisol levels were associated with greater anxiety at 40 weeks PMA; however, with better mental and physical health at 40 weeks PMA, and 6 and 12 months. Physical activity was associated with lower maternal perceived stress at 12 months. Maternal health did not differ by race, except anxiety, which was higher in White than non-White mothers after birth. As very low birth weight infants grew up, maternal physical health improved but mental health deteriorated. Testosterone and cortisol levels were found to be positively correlated in women but testosterone was more predictive of maternal mental and physical health than cortisol. Indeed testosterone consistently showed its associations with maternal health. Maternal stress might be improved through regular physical exercise

Effects of Gender on the Health and Development of Medically At‐Risk Infants

To examine gender-differentiated health and cognitive/motor/language developmental outcomes among medically at-risk infants

The Relationship Between Planned and Reported Home Infant Sleep Locations Among Mothers of Late Preterm and Term Infants

To compare maternal report of planned and practiced home sleep locations of infants born late preterm (34 0/7 to 36 6/7 gestational weeks) with those infants born term (≥ 37 0/7 gestational weeks) over the first postpartum month

Effects of Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Infant Gender on the Interactions Between Mothers and Their Medically At-Risk Infants

To examine the effects of maternal depressive symptoms and infant gender on interactions between mothers and medically at-risk infants

Optimal Body Temperature in Transitional Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants Using Heart Rate and Temperature as Indicators

ABSTRACT: Objective: To explore body temperature in relationship to heart rate in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants during their first 12 hours to help identify the ideal set point for incubator control of body temperature. Design: Within subject, multiple-case design. Setting: A tertiary neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in North Carolina. Participants: Ten infants born at fewer than 29 weeks gestation and weighing 400 to 1,000g. Methods: Heart rate and abdominal body temperature were measured at 1-minute intervals for 12 hours. Heart rates were considered normal if they were between the 25th and 75th percentile for each infant. Results: Abdominal temperatures were low throughout the 12-hour study period (mean 35.17-36.68°C). Seven of 10 infants had significant correlations between abdominal temperature and heart rate. Heart rates above the 75th percentile were associated with low and high abdominal temperatures; heart rates less than the 25th percentile were associated with very low abdominal temperatures. The extent to which abdominal temperature was abnormally low was related to the extent to which the heart rate trended away from normal in 6 of the 10 infants. Optimal temperature control point that maximized normal heart rate observations for each infant was between 36.8°C and 37°C. Conclusions: Hypothermia was associated with abnormal heart rates in transitional ELBW infants. We suggest nurses set incubator servo between 36.8°C and 36.9°C to optimally control body temperature for ELBW infants

Life course theory as a framework to examine becoming a mother of a medically fragile preterm infant

Life course theory, a sociological framework, was used to analyze the phenomenon of becoming a mother, with longitudinal narrative data from 34 women who gave birth prematurely after a high-risk pregnancy, and whose infant became medically fragile. Women faced challenges of mistimed birth and mothering a technologically-dependent infant. Before social ties were established, legal and biological ties required mothers to make critical decisions about their infants. Liminality characterized mothers’ early involvement with their infants. The mothers worked to know, love, and establish deeper attachments to this baby. The infant’s homecoming was a key turning point; it decreased liminality of early mothering, increased mothers’ control of infants’ care, and gave them time and place to know their infants more intimately

Interactive Behaviors of Ethnic Minority Mothers and their Premature Infants

To compare the interactive behaviors of American Indian mothers and their premature infants with those of African American mothers and their premature infants

Predictors of Wheezing in Prematurely Born Children

To examine the degree to which neonatal illness severity, post-neonatal health problems, child characteristics, parenting quality as measured by the HOME Inventory, and maternal characteristics related to the development of wheezing in prematurely born children over the first 27 months after term

A Test of Kangaroo Care on Preterm Infant Breastfeeding

To test the effects of kangaroo care (KC) on breastfeeding outcomes in preterm infants compared to two control groups and to explore whether maternal-infant characteristics and the mother’s choice to use KC were related to breastfeeding measures

Patterns of Distress in African American Mothers of Preterm Infants

Objective: To examine inter-relationships among stress due to infant appearance and behavior in the NICU, parental role alteration stress in the NICU, depressive symptoms, state anxiety, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and daily hassles exhibited by African American mothers of preterm infants and to determine whether there were sub-groups of mothers based on patterns of psychological distress. Method: 177 African American mothers completed questionnaires on their psychological distress at enrollment during infant hospitalization and 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after term. Results: Psychological distress measures were inter-correlated. There were four latent classes of mothers: the low distress class with low scores on all measures; the high NICU-related stress class with high infant appearance and parental role stress and moderate scores on other measures; the high depressive symptoms class with high depressive symptoms and state anxiety and moderately elevated scores on NICU-related stress and post-traumatic stress symptoms; the extreme distress class with the highest means on all measures. Infants in the high stress class were sicker than infants in the other classes. The extreme distress class mothers averaged the lowest educational level. The classes differed on distress measures, worry about the child, and parenting stress through 24 months with the extreme distress class having the highest values. Conclusion: Although different types of maternal psychological distress were substantially related, there were distinct sub-groups of mothers that were identifiable in the NICU. Moreover, these sub-groups continued to differ on trajectories of distress and on their perceptions of the infants and parenting through 24 months after term. Originally published Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Vol. 30, No. 3, June 200