The UAB St. Vincent’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is now participating in the NICU Bookworms reading program, which was started at UAB Medicine and Children’s of Alabama by neonatologist Viral Jain, M.D. It was created to help reduce developmental deficits, increase parent-infant bonding, and encourage shared reading starting at birth for all babies.
“The Bookworms program is another way our NICU has focused on improving developmental care of the infant,” said Danielle Armstrong, director of Women’s and Children’s Services at UAB St. Vincent’s. “Developmental care helps the infant by creating an environment that reduces stress and promotes positive interactions to support healthy brain development.”
Reading aloud is one of the simplest and most effective ways to promote healthy brain and language development from infancy.
“Reading allows for critical brain and auditory development to improve language and cognitive outcomes,” Armstrong said. “Language and cognitive growth happens rapidly in the first few months of life, and deficits are hard to correct. Reading also promotes bonding between parents and infant after two years of age.”
For NICU babies, reading is even more important.
“Infants in the NICU are at an increased risk for developmental delays due to prematurity or their illness,” Armstrong said. “Poor language exposure further increases their risk of hearing, cognitive, and language delays.”
Following Dr. Jain’s lead at UAB Medicine, the NICU Bookworms program at UAB St. Vincent’s provides each family with books to read at the bedside and take home. Its goals include:
- Supporting parent and infant bonding using books
- Encouraging parents to take an active role in their infant’s care
- Helping families develop a reading routine that continues after discharge
- Reducing neurodevelopmental risks associated with NICU stays
“This program isn’t just about books – it’s about hope, healing, and giving families a simple, meaningful way to care for their babies,” Armstrong said.
The community can help support the program by donating new, unused books to the NICU Bookworms library. Each book will go directly to a NICU family to help build a child’s personal library and reading routine. Check out our Amazon wish list today!