Keeping Tiny Babies Warm and Comforted

1322

By Muriel J. Smith
Betty Anderson rocks. And she knits. And because she does both of these things every week, there are dozens of little babies who are thriving, happy, growing healthier, and yes, even smiling. And these are infants that Betty Anderson doesn’t know and may not ever see again in their lifetime.
Anderson, a wife, mother of five, grandmother of 11 and retired teacher, is one of the dozen or so men and women who volunteer three hours a day one day a week to rock babies in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. Some of the babies are prematurely born, and must stay in the hospital a while; some have a problem after birth and cannot go to their home and family environment right away. The hospital is well staffed, and well-trained nurses and respiratory therapists take care of all of the immediate, emergent, and health issues and needs. But they simply don’t have the time to sit and rock infants, and give them that very special feeling of being cuddled and loved.
Enter NICU Manager , MBA, M.S., CPNP, APN, RNBC, CCRN the nurse manager of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Betty Anderson and others like her. Organized and efficient, dedicated to her job, George has spent the last six months putting together a coordinated program of love and rock. She interviews each volunteer personally, sets up a training procedure for each, arranges schedules to meet their needs and gets assurances they will show up for their three-hour spell once a week or call to explain they can’t be there.
The result is little babies who may have entered life with a slight disability of either an illness, health problem or low birth rate, are given an extra dose of love and individual attention and care that will last a lifetime.
The manager explains it best when she says the cuddling, the warmth and closeness of another human body, the love the volunteers put into their work gives these babies a special kind of trust that will last a lifetime. Some of the babies may be in the hospital for up to six months, some have problems that make them uncomfortable or leave them crying for long periods, she explains. The rockers can do away with that anxiety simply by rocking and cuddling. Although volunteers serve seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., the most urgent needs are Mondays through Fridays when parents can’t always get to the hospital to hold their own infant, because of other work or obligations at home.
George says rocking goes far beyond cuddling and produces results far beyond the formative years of the infant. “Their brains function better when they are without anxiety or pain,” she said. “They can be agitated and grow calm in the arms of someone who exudes love. They can feel the attention, they stop crying, there are all kinds of benefits.”
For Anderson, the rocking one day a week is as much a comfort and joy to her as it is to the babies she holds. Reluctant to bring any attention to herself – “I don’t do anything compared to what so many others do…..especially the nurses and the therapists” – she easily admits she can’t explain why she gets so much joy from rocking. “I can’t explain it,” she says, with a bit of frustration at the question, “babies give off some kind of…it’s almost that they know there is someone there who cares about them. They look at you, they have such trust in their eyes, you can feel them relaxing, even getting to sleep.”
The knitting is quite another story. Learning to knit from her sister when she was in college, Anderson has knit at least one scarf, mitten set, blanket or something else for each of her children and grandchildren as well as countless others. But for “her” babies, she wanted to do something special. So whether she’s riding in a car, on a bus, or, as in her most recent trip to Greece, on a plane, Anderson is busily knitting and purling little colorful hats for all the babies in the NICU at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. During the 12-day Greece trip, she put together 14 hats, all colors, all done while enjoying the sights at the Acropolis or one of the Greek Islands or en route to Istanbul. The wool caps give the babies an extra degree of warmth and go home with them as a souvenir of their stay – and the woman who loved them all.
“Sometimes the babies just need calming,” she explains, “sometimes their moms just can’t be there. Sometimes they’re ill. It doesn’t make any difference. We can all use a bit of love and cuddling once in a while.”
Nor is rocking babies still attached to monitors and equipment a problem, Anderson explains, thanks to the training the volunteers undergo at the hospital. She also gets a great deal of satisfaction at being able to do something for the working staff in the NICU. “Those nurses and therapists are the ones who save lives, the ones who really take care of the babies,” she says. “We’re just lucky to be able to be a part of it.”
The grandmother said she has learned so much from her own daughter-in-law, niece, and even Goddaughter, all of whom are employed at Jersey Shore. “They’re the ones you should be talking to, not me,” she concludes.
The NICU program is growing. George envisions a time in the not too distant future when she can also train volunteers to do other procedures under the guidance of a nurse, including feeding. In the meantime, there are always tiny little babies, all with colorful little hand knitted hats warming their little heads, that are waiting to be rocked.