Doctors know the healing power of touch, especially for pre-term babies or those born with addiction or other health issues.
That’s why Raleigh’s UNC-Rex Birth Center NICU is seeking volunteer cuddlers.
“It decreases pain, it decreases the baby’s stress and it helps promote healing,” Nicole Ross, a registered nurse and the Newborn Screening coordinator at UNC-Rex Birth Center told CNN affiliate WRAL. “It helps with brain development, and it helps decrease their length of stay.”
Cuddlers are an integral part of the care provided at the hospital. Snuggling is not only vital to helping the newborns overcome the obstacles they’re facing, but also to the parents and their own recovery. …
Cuddlers … have improved the care provided to patients and their families at UNC-Rex, the hospital says. It started a trial program for volunteer cuddlers a little more than a year ago, and due to its success, they are hoping to expand.
