Supporting mothers to bond with their newborn babies: Strategies used in a neonatal intensive care unit at a tertiary hospital in Malawi

It was showed that nurses and midwives used different approaches to facilitate maternal-newborn bonding. The responses revealed two major themes: mother-newborn interaction and mother-nurse/midwife interaction. Mother-newborn interaction involved breastfeeding and maternal involvement in newborn care, whereas mother-nurse/midwife interaction involved effective communication and psychosocial support. Maternal-newborn bonding promotes a mother's successful transition into motherhood, nurses and midwives should actively initiate strategies facilitating early maternal-newborn bonding.