Power of parent’s touch can reduce preemie's pain, Halifax researchers say

New mom Tammy Cohoon gets help from research co-ordinator Kim Caddell, left, and Dalhousie Assistant Professor Marsha Campbell-Yeo as part of a skin-to-skin contact program. Tammy’s twins Madelyn, left and Grace were born one week ago at the IWK Health Centre. (INGRID BULMER / Staff)

Marsha Campbell Yeo, an assistant professor at Dalhousie University’s school of nursing, is doing groundbreaking research on transforming care for premature babies at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax.

“So we’re really looking at novel ways to reduce the pain that babies feel from everyday procedures that happen in the neonatal intensive care unit,” Campbell Yeo said Tuesday in an interview before the university’s launch of the Centre for Transformative Nursing and Health Research.

“It really comes (as) a shock to a lot of people that these babies undergo, on average, eight to 10 procedures (a day) as part of their medical care.”

Campbell Yeo is also a neonatal nurse practitioner at the IWK.

To help reduce the pain, Campbell Yeo’s research team is focusing on finding a balance between technology always used in the unit and getting back to the basics in ways mothers can be more actively involved in reducing their babies’ pain.

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