In the early 1960s, doctors treating premature babies feared infection ) ) above all else. So they isolated the infants completely in sterile boxes; ) ) no one could touch them directly.
Stanford scientists helped change this mindset. In the late ’60s, ) ) psychiatrist Herbert Liederman became concerned about the effect of isolation ) ) on the parent-child relationship. When parents finally brought their babies ) ) home after weeks of fretting, they often felt alienated and unsure how ) ) to care for them. Liederman thought the infection risk was overblown, ) ) and Stanford doctors agreed to begin allowing parents to hold their hospitalized ) ) infants.
Sure enough, the doctors found that parents who had handled their babies ) ) in the hospital felt much more empathetic and had a better sense of how ) ) to comfort them once they came home. This research sparked the term “bonding” ) ) and the idea that physical contact is an important part of the parent-infant ) ) relationship. Researchers at other universities later established that ) ) holding and caressing premature infants also helps them develop physically ) ) and emotionally. And physicians have confirmed that the risk of infection ) ) is minimal in most cases, as long as parents take normal precautions like ) ) thorough hand-washing.
