European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 19, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A nurse aliens Ritchie right holding former patient of beeping machines monitors Needles and tubes help provide what Mother nature cannot. To Teresa it seemed every time she went to see her daughter there was a new tube attached to her Small body. A tube placed in an artery in her belly Button allowed medications or fluids to be administered easily wires attached to her arms and legs clocked her heart rate and respiration and a narrow tube placed through her Mouth and into the stomach prevented air from accumulating. Elizabeth was nourished by intravenous tubes. When she was ready to tolerate formula she was fed through a tiny tube that was passed Down her Throat until she could suck on a nipple. Most babies born less than 29 weeks require a Respirator to help them breathe. On Mother s Day Elizabeth s tube became clogged. I remember Mother s Day Teresa said. Elizabeth started turning Black while i was watching her. I called for the nurses and they threw to out i could t believe it was Mother s Day and she was doing this to to " even the numerous medications and machines cannot prevent problems from developing in the lungs heart intestines or brain said or. Maj Eduardo Lugo chief of Newborn services at Frankfurt our ability i j provide for a baby is not As Good As what nature  to said. Lugo Trie to prepare parents for the roller coaster ride they wih experience with a child in the Nursery. When in have a baby this Small i like to sit Down with them the parents and Tell them what can go  he said. We know they will need the same explanation More than once. I think it helps them in the Long  the neonatal intensive care unit itself can be intimidating for parents Paige said. I talk to them in those first few  she said we explain the equipment and Point out How the baby sucks on the Respirator tube like a  Ricky 28. Never completely conquered his fear of the machines that tracked almost every physiological movement Elizabeth s body made. I think i Only held her three times said Ricky a staff sergeant with 62nd aviation co v corps. The nurses encouraged me to hold her but i said i did t want to because of the  Teresa. 26, grew More comfortable with the Nursery i spent every minute i could at the Hospital she said. I Learned to take her temperature change her diapers and helped weigh her i really got involved with her care and asked questions. They encouraged that " the sculls tried to make Elizabeth s High tech crib look More like Home by placing stuffed animals toys and pictures Between the tubes and machines. For Teresa the turning Point came when Elizabeth was 6 weeks old and the Respirator tube was removed slowly but surely the other tubes were also taken  she said. Instead of receiving blood transfusions every other Day they were slowed to once a  Lugo said a baby is never really Over the Hump until the infant goes Home. Elizabeth weighed 5 pounds when she finally left the unit. Even at Home she needed More care than a full term baby. The thick secretions in her Mouth and nose needed suctioning every hour. She was fed exact amounts of formula every two hours. Six months after Elizabeth came Home she briefly stopped breathing and had to be rushed to the Hospital. Until last month she slept with a Belt around her Chest that monitored her breathing. She is otherwise healthy and so far has no serious problems Elizabeth s physical and mental development is being closely followed by doctors at the Frankfurt Hospital. Her development Lugo said is not compared to other 16-month-old children born full term but to babies 13 months old because she was born three months Early. Lugo said people Are not aware of How Well these babies do once they leave the Hospital people think we Are creating a vegetable or handicapped child but that is not so he said As Many As 60 percent Are totally Normal and 20 percent have Only a minor select such As a hearing problem or a visual defect that can be corrected with glasses he said ten percent to 20 percent have More serious problems ranging from mental retardation to cerebral palsy. Military neonatal facilities the United states army in Europe has two neonatal intensive Ore units one at Frankfurt regional army medical Center and a slightly smaller unit at Lan Stuhl army regional medical Center. The Frankfurt unit cares for approximately 300 babies a year while the one at Lan Stuhl cared for 142 babies in 1986. That same year Lan Stuhl turned away seven to 12 babies a month because of a Lack of staff babies who Are born premature and need the specialized care of a neonatal intensive care unit Are sent to these medical centers from All Over Europe or Are brought to civilian hospitals in the army facilities Are too far away. The United Stales air Force in Europe has no neonatal intensive care facilities and sends premature infants to army facilities or German civilian hospitals premature infants need tic from parents associated press premature infants might gain weight Aster and leave the Hospital sooner after birth if their mothers touched rocked and talked to them More according to a new study researchers have also found that the added attention from mothers May help offset the negative stimulation such infants often receive in bustling Hospital nurseries. Parents of premature infants usually leave the handling of their newborns to Hospital nurses until the babies Are developed enough to go Home said Rosemary c. White Traut author of the study and assistant professor of nursing in the College of nursing at the University of Illinois Chicago. They re intimidated because the babies arc so Small and have All those tubes sticking out of them White Traul said. She said premature babies who were massaged rocked and talked to at regular intervals left the Hospital after an average of 19 Days four Days earlier than the Normal 23 Days. Those infants who were Only talked to regularly left after 21 Days on the average she said. Moreover those receiving the extra handling gained As much As 4 Grams More per Day than those who got no special attention possibly because they were Calmer and consumed More at feeding time White Traut said. The study was done from August 1981 to september 1983 with 33 mothers at Rush presbyterian St. Luke s medical Center in Chicago she said. It will be published in the december Issue of research in nursing and health. Beginning when their premature babies were 24 hours old the mothers were divided into three groups including one control group she said mothers in the first group visited their infants in the Hospital s intensive care Nursery twice daily and talked or Sang to their babies for 15 minutes at a time she said. Mothers in the second group were taught infant Massage techniques and also visited their babies twice daily in the Nursery where they massaged them for 10 minutes while talk in or singing to them White Traut said. The mothers then rocked the babies in their arms for an additional five minutes All the while keeping Eye Contact with them she said a third group served As controls she said and members were Given no special instructions on interacting with their infants the babies in the Massage group came to what we Call a quiet Alert state Ideal for Early Mother infant bonding White Traut said or Kwang Sun Lee director of neonatology at the University of Chicago hospitals said the study bore out the principle that tender Loving care does what it s supposed to do for babies helps them  premature babies have a lot of negative stimulation with the lights the noise and the talking going on around them in the Hospital. Lee said in a Telephone interview. If anything a Mother s presence would help divert the infant s attention from such Irnan s. He said. August 19.1987 the stars and stripes Page 15