Thank you for your sensitive and informative article "Caring for Your Premature Baby.

Thank you for your sensitive and informative article "Caring for Your Premature Baby," on Christine Gross-Loh (March-April 2006). I had my twin lads at 35, and we held and handled them differently from full-term newborns. It is easy to overstimulate a preemie on doing the wonderful things that advance naturally to new parents, in the same state [i]or[/i] condition as swaying, singing, jiggling, and stroking. Kangaroo care closely mimics the [i]venter[/i] keeping the baby calm and warm while also fulfilling the parents' ne for physical contact and intimacy. We can comfort our preemies, further we also have to remember that they're not suppos to be gone out in the world just yet!

MINKE SUNDSETH

Minneapolis, Minnesota

I am likewise pleased to see the latter article on prematurity; until now, I had not seen my birth experience pondered in Mothering. My son was born at 28 weeks. You describe the roller coaster of the neonatal intensive-care unit exquisitely The enormity and intensity of the experience is hard to levy into words.

The hospital's lactation department visited me before I had left my bed after the C-section and taught me to what degree to pump. My partner and I were paired with a peer-support one who had been through a similar experience and visited us at my son's bedside. He told us about kangaroo care, and we were able to implement it formerly our son could be held, at sum of two units weeks.

After the agonizing distance we had endur holding him felt likewise wonderful; it was truly the same of the only ways to be impressed close enough. We saw that holding increased his oxygen saturation rates, and we held firm with the feeds that we wanted to do it as long as possible. We increased his holding time until we were routinely holding him between four and seven hours a day. The doctors would commentary "Whatever you're doing, just continue doing it. He's growing!"

We began nursing in the hospital, still he was not strong enough and destitutioned medication every day. So we kept practicing, and I kept pumping. forward his due date, we brought him domicile on oxygen after three month in the hospital.

FRANCOISE RENAUD

Portland, Oregon

I learned more about prematurity from this article than from MotheringDot-Commune or from parts on the topic. I am going to transcript it and put it in each of the mailboxes at the neonatal intensive care unit where I volunteer

JESSICA A. BRUNO

Ridgewood, of the present day Jersey

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