Difficulties for Mothers: Home Care of Babies Born Preterm

Mothers who had preterm labor were expected to face difficulties with baby care during the postnatal period. This study aimed to review studies on difficulties experienced by mothers who had premature labor regarding childcare at home during the postnatal period. The literature review was carried out between 2000 and 2019 in databases of PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane library, ULAKBIM, Google Scholar, and EMBASE. Mothers who had preterm labor experienced difficulties with diaper use, bathing, umbilical cord care, baby feeding, skin-to-skin contact, and recognition of newborn crying. Therefore, mothers need the support of health professionals for the health status of the newborn and their lack of self-confidence regarding baby care. However, the lack of home care guidelines leaves mothers helpless in meeting these needs. Mothers should be ready for the care of babies born preterm. For this reason, mothers who had preterm labor should be informed about the potential difficulties during their stay in the hospital. Mothers also need to be educated about the care of infants born preterm in the postnatal period. Thus, mothers can experience the home care process positively by becoming fully prepared to take the responsibility for home care. Developing clinical guidelines for postnatal care of babies born preterm can help reduce the concerns of mothers, shorten hospital stay, and reduce morbidity risks

Stress Level and Stressors in Women with Threatened Preterm Labor

Background: Threatened preterm labor is a common pregnancy problem. It is important to know the stress levelsand stressors of women hospitalized due to the threat of preterm birth in order to protect the health of the motherand fetus.Objectives: To compare the association between gestational weeks and stressors in hospitalized women withthreatened preterm labor.Methods: We implemented a cross-sectional descriptive study to examine the association between maternal stresslevel, stressors, and pregnancy weeks in threatened preterm labor. Information was collected from 125 participantswho were diagnosed with threatened preterm labor in two research hospitals and included in the final analysis.Multinominal logistic regression model was used to estimate the adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidenceinterval (95% CI) controlling for stressors.Results: In total, 72.8% of 125 women in this study evaluated stress level as ≥6 out of 10. According tomultinomial logistic regression test results, the most important stressors according to gestational weeks inthreatened preterm labor; fear of labor, stress score in the last month, diagnosis of threatened preterm labor, fearof losing her baby, familial conflict, being separeted from the child in the home and inability to provide care,problems in previous pregnancies, bed rest, and being primigravida.Conclusion: Maternal stressors are associated with gestational week in threatened preterm labor. The findings willprovide preliminary information to healthcare professionals in the evaluation of stress and stressors during thetreatment process of women in threatened preterm labor.Keywords: Threatened preterm labor, stress, stressors, Multinomial Logistic Regression, gestational week.&nbsp;</p