Maternal voice and music therapist voice with preterm infants

The active parenting in neonatal intensive care units is currently being encouraged, especially in the functional aspects of neonatal care. In the scientific literature, experts in the field of developmental care start to make recommendations such as the access to the maternal voice for the baby while doing kangaroo care. However, parents of premies may have difficulties to adress all by themselves their spoken or sung voice to their child : stunning, emotional overflow, PTSD, are frequently identified after a premature birth experience. The parent’s attachment system is activated and he can find himself in a motivational dilemma : to answer to his own needs and those of his child. Singing to one’s child is emotional in itself and it can engage the reminiscence ot the parent’s own mothering experience as a child and the related early affects which can be weakening in this context. Based on recent research in music therapy with preterm infants that recommend the use of live music and parent involvement in the therapeutic process, in the presence of a certified and trained music therapist, the music therapy clinical practise is aimed to offer an intersubjective experience between the parents, the baby, the medical staff and the music therapist to promote the emotional regulation and the parent-infant bonding in a secure and reliable environment. The enveloping presence of the voice of the music therapist can offer a new perspective on parenting skills and on the communicative skills of the baby. We also know that the contingent parental voice has positive effects on premies vocalization that are beneficial for their social and cognitive long term development. The short presentation will refer to an ongoing experimental study observing a sample of portuguese mother-preterm infant dyads in a neonatal intensive care in Lisbon. Short video sequences will be shown. We’ll make the hypothesis of a corelation between the phrasing of the maternal voice (speaking, singing or improvising) adressed to the baby during kangaroo care and the vital signs of the mother and the baby. Based on these first results, we’ll try to show how the stimulation generated by the voice of the mother and/or the music therapist in a temporal tuning to the infant’s answers can support the sense of active parenting. This will be illustrated by short video sequences filmed in the neonatal intensive care of the South Oise Hospital Group (GHPSO), in Creil (France).