(Oregon Right to Life) — A Nebraska news outlet late last month profiled a group of volunteers with a unique and satisfying job: Cuddling the babies in the Methodist Women’s Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
“As a baby cuddler, we have the opportunity to literally hold the babies, snuggle them, read to them,” volunteer cuddler Dr. Deb Perry told KETV, an Omaha-based ABC affiliate.
The outlet noted that the volunteers aren’t just providing a service that makes themselves and the NICU babies happy: babies actually need cuddles to develop properly. According to the report, “Doctors say the benefits of being held improve babies’ head shaping, language and overall development.”
RELATED: ‘Every Life is a Gift’: Youngest Preemie to Survive Early Birth Turns One Year Old
One of Methodist Women’s Hospital’s volunteers, Tori Peitz, is the mother of babies who spent time in the NICU before being able to safely go home. She told the outlet that being a “cuddler” supports both the babies and their parents.
“It is for those parents that can’t be up here all the time. If they have to go back from maternity leave, or they live far away. It’s to have someone be able to snuggle their baby when they can’t be here,” Peitz said.
Neonatal units have come a long way in recent decades, providing increasingly successful and life-saving care to premature babies and infants born with disabilities.
