The suffering of mothers in neonatal intensive care unit: separation, bonding and listening

Abstract

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is characterized by admitting newborns from 0 to 28 days of life. This classification admits hospitalizations of newborns immediately after childbirth for assistance, especially to prematurity, in addition to conditions associated or not with this condition, such as: respiratory distress, fetal suffering, infection, hypoglycemia, congenital malformation, and the number of hospitalizations to newborns after 72 hours is lower. Therefore, the physical separation of the baby/family is immediate at the exit of the maternal uterus, configuring an experience of very early discontinuity to both, generating suffering, helplessness and depotentialization of the maternal function. The aim of this study is to reflect on the listening sessions carried out by Psychology students in the hospital context and on the skills acquired in the face of separation experiences with mothers with newborns hospitalized in a hospital in the interior of Bahia. The analysis of the experiences recorded in a field diary was carried out according to the psychoanalytic framework. The experience allowed us to verify the importance of listening in the hospital environment and the acquisition of technical, social and professional skills by students in the use of light devices in hospital care.