Effect of Visiting Restrictions in the NICU during the Pandemic: A Literature Review

Abstract

Background: Parents of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) experienced a tremendous amount of stress with the changing policies which added to the trauma of having an infant in the NICU. While family-centered and developmental care are the norms in the NICU, the ‘visiting’ policy that involved complete lockdown, one parent at a time, restrictions on partners and extended families including grandparents, no kangaroo care, no breastfeeding, … etc. affected women emotionally, impacting breast milk production, breastfeeding and increased incidence of postpartum depression. Purpose: The purpose of this literature review is to explore the consequences of visiting restrictions in NICUs during the pandemic. Methods: Search terms, such as NICU, neonatal intensive care unit, parents, COVID-19 and visit, were used to search databases, such as CINAHL, PubMed and EBSCOhost, to identify peer-reviewed publications in English. The publications were after March 2020 by nature of the topic. Results: Visiting restrictions have a ripple effect on the infant and the family, where breastfeeding, milk production and parental mental health were affected. The changing policies have affected nurses too. Conclusion: Families are affected by the rapidly changing visiting policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has a ripple effect on mental health, bonding, breast milk production and family dynamics. Implications for Nursing: Babies born during these challenging times must be followed-up for their developmental milestones and social and educational achievement. Keywords: Neonatal intensive care unit: NICU, Parents, Visit, Pandemic, COVID-19.