Tale reading to premature babies in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is a further step up in caring for them: two years later results.

Introduction: the goal of this chapter was to examine the possible advantages of precocious tale reading to premature infants. Methods: a picture book in native family language was given to newborn’s parents after the admission in NICU and suggested to be read to their baby every time they would think possible and useful. On discharge home the same book followed the family. A questionnaire regarding liking of reading activity was administered and completed by parents, 6-12 months after their infant’s discharge. At 18 months of infant correct age, the level of infant hearing and language development was assesed by Griffiths Mental Development Scale. Results: Overall both in NICU and after discharge, parents stated they liked reading to infant and that it helped them feel closer to their babies. 64.5% of parents in NICU and 39.2% after discharge read every day to the infant. In the first assessment, the Likert scale in the first two items (“reading helps both, we parents and our neonate” and “it makes us closer”), showed a score higher in families with very low birth weight infants (VLBW) than in those with low birth weight infants (LBW), (Fisher F (1,124) = 10.31; p=.002; F (1,123) = 16.23; p<.0005 respectively). In the same items, the Italian parents had a score significantly higher than foreign ones (F (1,24) = 6,40 p < .0005 ; F (1,23) = 13,76 p < .0005 respectively). Although in all the families, the frequency of reading tends to decrease in the second assessment (F 1,114 = 17,49 p < .0005), a significant positive correlation between the infant birthweight x time duration emerges (F (1,114) = 3,76 p 0,05): LBW parents say the act of reading helps them to be closer to their child only after discharge. Moreover, at 18-month corrected age the intervention was associated with higher Griffith index score in the language subscale (p = 0.011). Conclusion: parent book-reading intervention in NICU enhances parent-infant interaction and promotes reading. These results suggest that starting reading in the NICU may have consistent benefits.