Co-bedding Infant Twins

During a recent national conference of neonatal nurses, Kasparian and Whalen reported that over the past five years among their co-bedded premature multiples, their staff has observed:

• Decreased number of apnea incidents
• Improved blood-oxygen levels
• Increased weight gain
• Better feeding
• Greater temperature regulation
• Decreased agitation
• Decreased the length of hospital stays and re-admissions

Kasparian is hoping that once their study is complete, more physicians will embrace co-bedding preemie multiples. "Physicians are very analytical," she said. "They have to see proof." There are still many who worry that putting twins together could lead to higher rates of infection and medical errors in medication by mixing up the twins, she said. However Kasparian said that in the time the UMass Memorial NICU has been co-bedding premature twins, there have been no incidents of twin-to-twin infection or medicinal foul-ups.

Given the unique experiences these babies have in utero, Kasparian said, it's only natural to put them together. "They both respond to each other's touch," she said. ". . . Just allowing them to be together, it works."

And while Dilbarian's children weren't in as critical a condition as Brielle, just seeing her twins together brought everyone pleasure. "It made me a lot happier," she said.