“Babies born early?” - silences about prematurity and their consequences

BACKGROUND: The principal aim of this study was to understand how communication between parents and health professionals concerning prematurity occurs, from delivery to admission to the neonatal Intensive Care Unit. METHODS: This is an exploratory, descriptive study with a qualitative methodology. Data were collected using tape-recorded and Focal Groups technique interview with mothers of premature newborns and health professionals involved in caring for preterm infants, at southeast Brazil. RESULTS: The word “premature” was not said or heard during prenatal care. From the narratives, it was observed that there was a lack of information available to pregnant women about preterm birth, failure in medical care regarding signs and symptoms reported by pregnant women, and lack of communication between the medical teams, mothers and family during delivery and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) admission. CONCLUSION: There is a fine line between born too soon and die too soon, that increases stress, fear and distance impacting negatively over communication between mothers and health professionals during antenatal care, childbirth and NICU admission.