Bringing up Preterm Babies—A Guide for Parents: Krisha Krishnani and Umesh Vaidya (eds)

Abstract

Preterm babies contribute a huge burden of sick newborns in the world. Many of them require prolonged stay in level II and III care newborn units for treatment and later, for a long term follow-up by a multispeciality team of doctors, developmental specialists and lactational management experts. During hospital stay, the parents and familymembers of the preterm babies undergo tremendous psychological and financial stress resulting in feeling of guilt and helplessness. Most often, the treating neonatologists and nurses are too preoccupied by their busy work schedule and always may not be in a position to explain and counsel the family in the right manner which leads to a sense of dissatisfaction among the family members. The book “Bringing up preterm babies—A guide for parents” written by Ms Krisha Krishnani and Dr Umesh Vaidya clarifies most of the problems and queries of the parents and families who are faced with a situation of having a preterm baby admitted in one of the neonatal units. The book highlights, in very simple language, the terminologies used in newborn care including different levels of care, how to cope up with stress, the follow up care, special feeding technique, including importance of breast milk and lactational management. The chapter on parenting your neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) baby at home, parental participation in NICU care and financial aspects of neonatal care are excellently written and are of great use for the parents and family. The book covers a wide spectrum of the medical complications including problems in growth and development and assessment depicting various charts for monitoring. The chapters are very well written in a simple language for the parents. However, many of these topics appear to be difficult to understand by ordinary parents without any background knowledge of medical sciences unless they are explained by the doctors. It shall be heartening for all the parents of preterm babies to know about famous preemies of the world. I congratulate the authors of all the chapters who have done excellent work by simplifying the subject in simple and understandable language. The book shall be a useful knowledge bank for not only parents but also for all nurses and doctors caring for the newborn babies.