NICU Cuddlers

Twenty-three to thirty-four weeks is a small amount of time in order to develop into a fully functioning human being. When these small patients are born into this world they are most likely rushed into the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where they address their short development time as well as any underlying medical problems, whether they be associated with their development or not. These patients are our smallest and most fragile, but also some of our loneliest. Many times nursing units within hospitals are understaffed and the nurses simply do not have time to spend just holding or speaking softly to an infant going through treatment. This is where "NICU Cuddlers" come into play. These volunteer groups are starting to crop up in hospitals around
With no major clinical trials or evidence to support these cuddlers, many hospital administrators say the treatments are experimental and chose not to recruit these types of volunteers. Major hospitals which have decided to enroll cuddling volunteer groups include, The University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital, Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx New York, and Golisanos Children's Hospital in Rochester New York. These hospitals are pioneering a new way to care for critical cases such as these with a loving touch. This raises the quality of care, and most importantly stops children from crying. Crying children is already difficult to watch, add in the fact that they are being treated in an intensive care unit before they even make it home creates a situation which calls for all the love and support they can get. NICU cuddlers are important to provide soothing care for our smallest and most vulnerable, and to insure that children in these types of situations are exposed to loving care, even if just by cuddling