In hospitals' neonatology units, they are increasingly aware of the importance of attachment and physical contact with newborns for recovery.
Nurse specialist in Pediatrics Lola Hernández has been working with babies for thirty years and three years ago she began to spin a system so that the newborns admitted were more agitated while their parents were not with them. That's where Amb you was born, a cushion that mimics a human torso and hug the babies. She tells us where the idea comes from.
A cushion that embraces
When a baby has to stay in Neonatology right after birth instead of going home it is a tough situation for everyone. Parents have to take their little one in a difficult environment and the newborn has to adapt to the world and then undergo treatments and, sometimes, the absence of their parents.
The nurse of the Valencian hospital Casa de Salud Lola Hernández wanted to contribute her grain of sand to the well-being of babies in the Neonatology unit where she has been working for 12 years, claiming the hug As an important part of nursing care:
"Lately, the humanization of care in hospitals is being sought a lot. Professionals have always sought to improve the technical part, the care of babies. That's fine, but maybe these little things like hugging, affection, the same sometimes we leave them in the background. Although the Neonatology units are now very open and the parents have a lot of contact with the children there are times that it cannot be and we wanted to replicate the feeling of hugging, of feeling protected, when the parents are not ".
A simple idea
Amb you, which means with you in Valencian, is a cushion that has articulated arms that fold around the baby in a hug. It also has built-in relaxing music, voice recorder and a pulse oximeter (to non-invasively measure blood oxygen saturation and heart rate).
Lola's whole family (her mother was in charge of sewing the prototype) has participated in her idea, which occurred to her when she thought about how to prevent children from moving when they were placed in a semi-incorporated position: "Children in the hospital when they have a regurgitation problem, especially those who are underweight, premature, vomit a lot and have to be in a built-in position. If you don't hold them, they drain and go down. That built-in position we have to do with a kind of harnesses that are made with sheets. I thought if instead that same position could be maintained but that the baby had the feeling that he is cuddled would be fantastic, "says the nurse.
Recommendations at bedtime
This cushion is currently a prototype that is used under the supervision of professionals in a hospital, but it should be remembered that the recommendations of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics regarding how to put the baby to bed say: "The mattress where the baby lies down should be firm and covered with an adjustable sheet, and without using pillows, bedspreads or objects near the face. "
The cushion has already been tested with some hospital children and, apparently, they love it. They curl up like when we have them in their arms, cry less and regurgitate less. A fantastic idea on Amb you, the cushion that embraces newborns when their parents are not.
In Babies and more My baby regurgitates, what can I do ?, "With you, like at home", the campaign of the Vall D'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona to humanize the care of premature babies and their families
