INCUBATORS MAY ALTER THE HEART RATE OF BABIES

The incubator is the most widely used means for the care of premature babies. They provide constant heat, isolation and are equipped with a monitor that controls the vital signs and heartbeats of the baby at all times.

There is no doubt about its effectiveness, but it is increasingly questioned whether the isolation of the baby is beneficial for its development, since evidence shows that babies who remain in the heat of their mothers and are breastfed improve faster.

Apart from that, researchers from the Department of Pediatrics and Obstetrics at the University of Siena (Italy) have found that incubators could cause some stress in babies, as they found that the frequency of heartbeats of newborns decreased when the machine was on.

Although it is a first hypothesis that should be studied in depth, the study authors believe that the cause could be due to the baby's exposure to electromagnetic fields of the incubator that alter your heart rate.

Researchers have said they will continue studying this theory in order to confirm whether these alterations could somehow affect the recovery of babies or if it could have any long-term effect on their health.

Of course, the current incubators are improvable, but look at the incubators of the future that have been devised by a group of students from the University of Salamanca.

The care of premature babies in general is also very improved, it seems that we forget that these are immature babies who need to be in contact with their mother. It has been shown that the kangaroo method in which the mother holds the baby against her breast has a thermoregulatory effect, in addition to the fact that the vertical position of the baby facilitates its oxygenation and helps to keep its vital signs such as breathing and heartbeat constant heart.

In my humble opinion, I believe that the ideal combination for the care of premature babies is that which unites technological advances with the humanization of their care.