Collaborative decision making in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) involves negotiation among the parents and medical professionals involved with a premature baby. The authors introduce economist Herbert Simon's concept of "satisficing" as a model for collaborative decision making in the NICU. Satisficing (a hybrid of "satisfy" and…

General movements (GMs) are part of the spontaneous movement repertoire and are present from early fetal life onwards until the end of the first half a year of life. GMs are complex, occur frequently, and last long enough to be observed properly. They involve the whole body in a variable sequence of arm, leg, neck, and trunk movements. They wax…

This paper provides evidence for imitative abilities in neonatal chimpanzees ("Pan troglodytes"), our closest relatives. Two chimpanzees were reared from birth by their biological mothers. At less than 7 days of age the chimpanzees could discriminate between, and imitate, human facial gestures (tongue protrusion and mouth opening). By the time…

To investigate differences in mothers' interaction patterns with their neonate twins based on birth order, relative size at birth, or gender, 37 neonate twins and their mothers were observed during the first 10 minutes of a feeding in a hospital nursery. Time-sampling recordings were made of maternal behaviors related to proximal stimulation,…

To determine whether lack of medical insurance was associated with adverse health outcomes, this study examined hospital data on newborns in California's San Francisco Bay Area. The study also sought to determine which ethnic groups were most at risk. Computerized data on all civilian acute-care hospitalizations in the study area were obtained for…

This study examined the effect of a modification of nursing care on stressors associated with care procedures for low birth weight infants in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU); and on infants' physiological, motor, and behavioral development. The nursing staff of an NICU received training to reduce environmental and procedural stress, support…

The House Committee on Education and Labor recommended passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act as amended and submitted the following regarding the legislation: (1) a synopsis of committee action in the 101th, 100th, 99th, and 98th Congresses; (2) background and need for the legislation, based primarily on previous testimony heard by the…

The study examined medical and social services to pregnant women, newborns and their families in 10 European countries and suggested implications for policy and practice in the United States. The 10 countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) tend…

The normal course of family adaptation to pregnancy, birth, and early parenting is examined in this study, and variables predictive of difficulties in family adjustment during this period are investigated. Subjects were 89 married couples and 9 women whose husbands did not participate. The women had a mean age of 28 years; 46 were pregnant for the…

Data reported are part of a larger study investigating the antecedents of abuse and, more generally, parent-child interaction. Various personality and attitudinal variables were assessed prenatally and 3 months after the birth of the first child of 267 high-risk mothers. Four consistent factors emerged, two relating to personality variables, one…

The effects of obstetrical medication on neonatal behavior were studied using a sample of 64 Israeli infants from medicated and non-medicated mothers. Most medicated mothers received a base dose of 75 mg. of Meperidine plus a base dose of 25 mg. of Phenergan. Other drugs used included Demerol, Valium, Butalgan, Pitocin, Pantopon, Trilene, Naline,…

This study examined behavioral correlates of the rapid central nervous system changes occurring in the first 4 months of life. It was hypothesized that during the early months of infancy, visual preference would occur as a function of quantitative dimensions of the stimuli (size) which could be mediated at a subcortical level. It was further…

This study attempts to investigate the effects of increased maternal visual regard on neonatal social visual behavior and upon patterns of mother-neonate interaction within the context of a learning theory paradigm. Subjects were 3-day-old neonates and their mothers; with 10 of the 15 mother-neonate pairs as the experimental group, and 5 as the…

Based on findings that report differences between cries of normal and clinically abnormal infants, this study examined the relationship between birthweight and behavioral and acoustic features of neonatal cry because of the long-standing association between birthweight, perinatal trauma, and subsequent development. Subjects were 88 neonates…

Describes a pretest/posttest scheme used to evaluate the impact of a continuing nursing education program on the participants' knowledge of the perinatal content covered. To complement this program-centered evaluation, an evaluation from the program participants was also obtained. Discusses the results of this evaluation and their implications.…