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BACKGROUND: Children with a raised BMI are a major public health challenge in the world that can cause serious consequences for children's physical and mental health. Child health care nurses' responsibility is to promote health and prevent ill-health in children, but because being overweight is stigmatized CHC-nurses find it difficult to talk to the parents about concerns over the children's weight, in fear of losing their trust.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to describe parents' experiences of when CHC-nurses introduce a conversation related to their child being overweight.

METHOD: This study was conducted via semi-structured interviews with nine parents and the data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS: The result showed that being overweight in childhood is a sensitive topic, and this is presented as four categories A hard time coping, A desire to protect the Children, Changes of Parental Perspective and Trust - a mediating factor. This is a sensitive topic for the parents, who have a hard time accepting the situation and place the blame on themselves, and the nurse's approach and relationship with the parents is of great importance for the outcome of the conversation.

CONCLUSIONS: Parents seem to have another perspective on health and weight than the healthcare providers, and both parents and CHC-nurses might benefit from an increased understanding of one another's view. Parents need to gain knowledge about how healthcare providers assess children's growth, and the CHC-nurses need to be aware about how to be responsive to the parents and allow them time to process the information. The focus should be on healthy lifestyle choices regardless of weight.

OBJECTIVE: To describe factors associated with quality of couple relationships among parents of infants cared for in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) 1 year after birth and examine the trajectory of the relationship quality compared to parents from maternity units (MUs).

STUDY DESIGN: Longitudinally comparative cohort design. Parents answered surveys during the first year after discharge about the couple relationship, social support, and depressive symptoms.

RESULTS: Better social support and a hospital stay of 7-14 days were positively associated with the couple relationship in NICU mothers, whereas not having slept together with the partner and infant during hospitalization were negatively associated. Depressive symptoms were negatively associated with the relationship among NICU fathers. There were no differences in trajectory of the relationship quality between NICU and MU parents.

CONCLUSION: To strengthen couple relationships, it could be important to improve social support, facilitate space and time for support, and enable togetherness during hospitalization.

Abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) in human milk may have important functions in lactation and infant health. This longitudinal pilot cohort study investigated the total nitrite and nitrate (NOx) concentration in human milk and maternal saliva during the first 60 days postpartum. Additionally, we explored the association between selected breastfeeding variables and milk and saliva NOx concentration. Human milk and maternal saliva samples were collected on days 2, 5, 14, 30, and 60 postpartum and analyzed for NOx concentration. Breastfeeding data were collected through self-assessed questions. Data analyses were performed using mixed models. The concentration of NOx in milk was significantly higher during the first 30 days compared to day 60, and there was a positive association between milk and saliva NOx concentrations throughout the entire study period. In absolute numbers, partially breastfeeding mothers had a lower concentration of NOx in milk on day 2 compared to exclusively breastfeeding mothers (8 vs. 15.1 μM, respectively). Partially breastfeeding mothers reported a later start of secretory activation and fewer mothers in this group started breastfeeding within the first hour after birth. Due to the small numbers, these differences could not be statistically evaluated. Further research is warranted to elucidate the role of NO in lactation success and breastfeeding outcomes. 

Aim. Early intervention and detecting early signs are often cited as a goal by professionals working with children, butdetecting and describing early signs is not well explored. Thus, the study’s aim was to explore professionals’ experiences and challenges in the early identifcation of psychosocial concerns in children aged 0–16. Materials and Methods. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 26 professionals (e.g., nurses, psychologists, social workers, teachers, principals, and managers) working with children. The participants engaged in a pilot cooperation model between preschools, schools, social services, and healthcare to reach out early to children in need of support. The interviews were analyzed using thematic network analysis. Results. Four organizing themes were created as follows: “The idea of promoting and preventing is the key to success,” “Identifying the children who need support and intervention,” “Identifying observable early signs,” and “Occupied with children needing immediate support.” The organizing themes were interpreted into one global theme as follows: “All want an early intervention but putting it into practice is challenging.” Conclusion. The study shows that it is difcult to identify children in need of psychosocial support at an early stage because the early signs are difficult to detect. Thus, our results suggest that both preventive interventions targeting all children and specifc interventions for those in need of support are needed to promote health and wellbeing.

Moderately preterm infants (32-36 weeks of gestational age) have an increased risk of worse health and developmental outcomes compared to infants born at term. Optimal nutrition may alter this risk. The aim of this study was to investigate the neurological, growth, and health outcomes up to six years of age in children born moderately preterm who receive either exclusive or fortified breast milk and/or formula in the neonatal unit. In this longitudinal cohort study, data were collected for 142 children. Data were collected up to six years of age via several questionnaires containing questions about demographics, growth, child health status, health care visits, and the Five to Fifteen Questionnaire. Data on the intake of breast milk, human milk fortification, formula, and growth during hospitalization were collected from the children's medical records. No statistically significant differences in neurological outcomes, growth, or health at six years of age were found between the two groups (exclusive breast milk, n = 43 vs. fortified breast milk and/or formula, n = 99). There is a need for research in larger populations to further assess potential effects on health and developmental outcomes when comparing the use of exclusive versus fortified breast milk for moderately preterm infants during neonatal hospitalization.

AIM: To compare mental health in parents of preterm/ill infants and parents of term and healthy infants before birth and 1 month after hospital discharge.

METHODS: A comparative cohort design was used. In total 439 parents from six neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and 484 parents from four maternity units (MUs) in Sweden answered a survey 1 month after discharge.

RESULTS: Parents in neonatal units experienced significantly more psychologically traumatic births and rated their health and the health of their infants less favourably the first week after delivery than parents in MUs. In the neonatal units, both parents had better possibilities to stay together with the infant during hospital stay. There was no difference between the NICU and MU groups in postpartum depressive symptoms 1 month after discharge. Experiencing a traumatic birth was not related to an increased risk of perinatal depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale ≥13) for mothers in NICUs. In contrast, the risk of depression increased for mothers in MUs.

CONCLUSION: Family togetherness, parent-infant closeness and emotional support at NICUs may contribute to the positive outcome. Further studies are needed to assess the long-term effects of how family togetherness and closeness influence families long-term.

The aim of this study was to explore expectant parents’ prenatal expectations of parenthood and experiences of parenthood 2 months after birth. Mixed methods were used. Data were collected with two questionnaires. The parents had mostly realistic expectations of parenthood. However, fathers had significantly lower enjoyment expectations than mothers, and first-time fathers had lower total expectations than fathers who already had children. Four main categories emerged in the parents’ experiences of parenthood: mixed emotions—a life-changing time, challenges in parenthood, development in the parental role, and bonding and interaction with the child. Accordingly, new parents’ experiences of parenthood seem to reflect their realistic expectations of parenting, that is, the parents experienced mixed feelings.