Sunday, April 1, 2007
This low-tech, hands-on treatment gives newborn babies more bounce
By Jeffery Kurz, staff

MERIDEN - Corrine Cross’ very healthy baby son Jonté was also an extremely good sport the other morning. Though he was only a few hours old, and there was no shortage of cuddle-readyand- willing relatives and friends nearby, the baby was allowed to be used as a model to help illustrate the benefits of volunteer cuddling.

Most babies in need of cuddling services are not a few hours - but several weeks - old, and they have to stay at hospitals long after their mothers have been allowed to return home. Birthing centers with intensive care units, like the one at the UConn Health Center, rely on cuddlers to provide that extra attention nurses can’t spare.

For a hospital like Mid State Medical Center, the need is much less frequent but was still considered important enough for the hospital to start a baby-hugging program about a year ago.

There’s no shortage of volunteers ready to hug and rock a baby when the need arises, said Diamond Belejack, Mid State’s manager of volunteer services.

“I make a phone call, say I’ve got a baby, and there’s no problem,” she said.

There are about a dozen volunteers trained who can cover when the need arises around the clock, she said. There are security and hygiene concerns, and volunteers need to be trained as to what they can and cannot do when it comes to handling a baby.

The benefits to a baby are probably obvious.

“Sometimes they just need that TLC,” said Belejack. “Babies need that human interaction. Our cuddlers give us that opportunity.”

And the volunteers are certainly not complaining.

“I have a son who is 29 and I’m anxious to be a grandmother,” said Lynn Di Roma, a volunteer.

“So this is a substitute right now.” There aren’t many grandmothers who would pass on the opportunity to cuddle a baby, said Cherry Watkinson, who has three grandchildren of her own.

“And these guys are often in need of a little extra comfort,” she said. “We’re providing a service to the parent, too. If we can come in and take over for them for a few hours, it really helps them out.”

It also helps nurses, she said, “because there’s no way they can give so much time to a baby.”

“I remember the last time I did it, for a father who was so excited because he could go have lunch,” said Di Roma.

“I think babies sense love,” she said. “And cuddlers have a lot of love to give.”

Volunteer cuddlers can also play an essential role in the much more serious function in helping infants recover from narcotics withdrawal. This can result from mothers with addiction to methadone or heroin, or from other narcotics, said Jeanne Franza, Mid State’s neonatal nurse practitioner. Some infant drug dependencies are the result of pain control the mother needed for medical reasons.

Neonatal abstinence syndrome refers to babies with drug dependencies. Babies with such conditions mean extended hospital stays as long as six weeks, said Franza. Mid State sees about two to three cases a year, she said.

The hospital monitors the signs and symptoms of withdrawal, which can include excessive crying, inability to sleep and trembling, and keeps a score, or measurement, of the severity of the symptoms.

Cuddling, which includes rocking, feeding and hugging, can lower those scores and reduce the amount of time the infant stays in the hospital , said Franza.

“It can actually prevent them from needing medication,” Franza said. “That’s how important it is.”

“If you can prevent a baby from needing medication, it’s very important,” she said.