PART 2: Practice and research recommendations for quality developmental care in the NICU

Abstract Developmental care interventions, which may promote preterm infant's neurodevelopment during the hospitalization in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, should be implemented and integrated to care delivered by nurses, other healthcare professionals, and parents. These interventions may have an impact on the preterm infants' developing brain and optimize their short and long-term health outcomes. Based on a previous narrative overview, more high-quality research is still needed in this field. Nevertheless, best practice of developmental care can still be recommended to improve today's neonatal clinical practice. The aim of this article is to provide both practice and research recommendations according to the seven categories of developmental care interventions in the neonatal intensive care unit: family-centered care, sleep protection, assessment and management of pain, infant positioning, optimized infant-driven feeding, administration of human milk, and control of the environmental light and noise.