O Father, Where Art Thou?

Abstract

To study the frequency and duration of parental visits to neonatal intensive care units (NICU) during the first 28 days of life of preterm infants in relation to medical variables, sociodemographic factors, and subsequent outpatient follow-up examinations. Retrospective chart review of 127 infants with a birth weight less than 1500 g born between Jan 1, 2009, and Dec 31, 2009, at 2 tertiary NICUs. The average frequency of parental visits during the first 28 days of life declined significantly over time (P < .05) while the duration of visits remained constant. Average frequency and duration of visits per day were consistently lower in fathers than in mothers (median [interquartile range]: 0.6 [0.4-1.0] per day vs 1.1 [0.9-1.4] per day, 72.5 [32.1-108.9 [min/d vs 133.4 [75.4-174.3] min/d). While a history of treatment for infertility was correlated with significantly more frequent and longer parental NICU visits in the first 2 weeks, having older children at home was correlated with shorter visits during the first week. Visiting patterns showed no relation to attendance at follow-up examinations at 6 months corrected age. Mothers spend more time with their preterm infants in NICUs than fathers. We suggest measures to increase paternal involvement with hospitalized preterm infants.