Music in the NICU- need your opinions

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Alright, so I am a first year nursing student and I have a project due on music as a nursing intervention in the NICU. I'd like to hear what you, as a nurse, has to say on the subject.

Thank you!

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

have you gone to your library, and search journals. I just did a research paper on the nursing care of infants with NAS and in a few journal articles there was mention of using music in the NICUs

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Part of the project requires opinions from current nurses on the subject. I currently have 5 or so journal articles.

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Specializes in PeriOperative.

I'm not a NICU nurse, but I had a child in the NICU for a few weeks. I was told not to touch her because she got overstimulated (RR up to 130s) when I did. If some of the babies in the NICU can't tolerate light or touch because it is overstimulating, I would imagine that music would fall into the same category. As a parent, I would rather be able to touch my child than have music playing, if I had to choose between the two forms of stimulation.

If music would benefit one baby, it must be played in a way that is not detrimental to other babies. The babies that are most susceptible are not those in isolettes (which do eliminate some noise), they are in warmers so that the doctors and nurses can keep a closer eye on them and react quicker if there is a problem.

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I work in a level 3 NICU, however we do not have a stepdown unit so eventually our critical babies become grower-feeders and start working towards home. Often those more stable babies may be paired with a sicker baby, as a nurse I try to give as much time as possible to those stable babies, especially if they have no family visiting, but often it is not as much as they need. Sometimes those bigger, fussy babies really do need more stimulation and music works for a lot of them. We have private pt rooms and computers with a "get well network" for families to utilize during their stay, we can also access AOL radio on these computers and get the baby lullaby station to play, we love it. However for very critical and unstable babies, even a soft lullaby...or music from a mobile or toy, can actually put them over the edge and make their status worse

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

I worked NICU and my niece was a premie.

I do not like the idea of music because I see how much stimulation my niece received (inadvertently ambient noise and just the environment), and she is INCREDIBLY noise sensitive.

Overwhelming auditory sensitivity.

It could just be her temperament--but she is my anecdote as to why min touch, min noise is a definite must-do.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Moved to NICU forum.

I think it must completely depend on the patient. If you're talking a micropremie or an critical sick kid, then yes - I'd agree with decreasing stimulation of ANY kind - music or otherwise.

But when we have a kid that's withdrawing, or even just a big fussy gassy one, sometimes we've found music is the magical cure. One child we absolutely could not console in any way shape or form, and we happened to have a radio at the time*. We were completely desperate and put him a little closer to the music - out like a light. I told his mom that and her response was, "Oh, well I'm not surprised. His dad is in a rock band and I spent a good amount of time at his concerts when I was pregnant."

Would I do that with a sick septic kid, or a teeny peanut? No way. But for that fussy enormous 10-pounder, it was the miracle cure.

*Lest it be thought that we blast sick unstable preemies with radio music, we don't. I don't work in a 'NICU.' I work in a mostly-well-baby nursery, but we do keep sicker kids in our 'well-baby' nursery than most places do. We withdraw babies from narcotics, we do rule-out sepsis cases, isolettes, IV abx, and the late pretermers. We used to have radio access and would play music softly on occasion with the fussy ones....that has long since gone bye-bye, though.

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Specializes in NICU.

We use music in our NICU. Babies should be greater than 35-36 weeks corrected age and very stable. We limit it to a certain amount of time per day, and we are only allowed to use selected baby/classical CDs. The radio is forbidden. They set the volume to an appropriate level. To the posters worried about this stim replacing the opportunity to touch their baby, babies who do not tolerate extensive touch would NOT be candidates. We have private rooms, so this helps...but the volume is low enough sometimes you can't even hear it across their little room. Our guidelines were developed based on research. It seems to really help certain babies, and babies who are post-term need some normal baby stimulation. If they are stable, laying in a crib in a dark silent room all day is NOT good developmental care!

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I think music is wonderful! I have just applied to an ADN program here in SC so I don't have any nursing experience yet, but I did have a baby girl named Sarah in the NICU this past January. She was full term but had inoperable heart defects and she was only 3 pounds when she was born. She bounced around from private units to being mixed in with other babies but she always responded well to music. She was very sensitive to touch, loud noises, and the normal hustles and bustles of the NICU but we always watched her blood oxygen levels go up when there was soft soothing music around her. One of her nurses experimented with humming "You are my sunshine" while doing her assesments and her blood ox levels would go up a couple numbers almost every time and she kept her from getting too stressed out while having to do all the poking and prodding. I'm sure not all babies respond to music as well as my little Sarah did. My husband is a musician and I'm a singer so I think she heard a lot of music while in the womb and I'm sure that is why she responded to it so well. I guess ultimately it's a case by case basis with each baby. Hope this info helps you!

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I work in a Level IIB NICU. We have a real mix of neonates- from those who are quite sick and on the ventilator to chronic grower-feeder babies who are upwards of 60-70 days old. I agree with many of the other posters. I have seen the benefit (soft) music has on the older kids who are very stable, and, I think, bored at a certain point. I will play soft music (lullaby/classical) by their bedside when they are awake in a quiet alert state after a feed and turn it off when they are sleeping. Of course, volume should be soft so it can just be heard by that particular baby in the open crib and not by this sick baby across the room who is very sensitive to noise.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

Kids that don't tolerate alot stim don't get music, ones that are older, usually greater than 34 weeks do like the soft baby music. But...some kids don't tolerate touch but respond well to music. You have to remember that touch to those little kids sometimes is like sandpaper rubbing them...their skin is not developed yet and lots of nerve endings are exposed...like a burn getting touched. Sometimes, mom's voice or soft music is the only thing that is soothing to them. We also use womb sounds with some of the kids.

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Specializes in NICU Level III.

Older babies, sure. Anything in an isolette, NO WAY.

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