Music Therapy in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Medical music therapy has received growing attention in the past decade. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is an area of great potential for music therapy intervention. This book addresses the development of NICU music therapy from a variety of perspectives (medical, nursing, social work and child life) incorporating observation, research and clinical practice. While much excellent pioneering work has researched the use of pre-recorded music with infants, this book focuses primarily on the use of live, clinical improvisation and music psychotherapy approaches which include the impact of the parent/s and of music's ability to enhance bonding. In attempting to work with the fragile population of infants and their caregivers in the neonatal intensive care units, music therapists assess the musical sounds that a baby produces, which are indicative of his/her physical functioning: the tone of the cry, the rhythms of the heart and breathing, physical cues in movement, sucking and eating patterns, awake and asleep states. Topics covered include: the effect of music and sound on perinatal brain development, team centered and family centered approaches to music therapy in the NICU, various techniques including the effect of contingent music to increase non-nutritive sucking of premature infants, the use of infant directed singing as a mechanism for bonding, developing and communicating, and the effects of gentle, Environmental Music Therapy (EMT) and its effect upon live music on the sound environment of the NICU, as well as case studies, theoretical discussions and research.