Effect of night and day on preterm infants in a newborn nursery: Randomised trial

Abstract

The effect of alternating night and day on sleep, feeding, and weight gain in 41 healthy preterm infants was examined in a randomised controlled trial. Twenty infants from a night and day nursery, where the intensity of light and noise was reduced between 7 pm and 7 am, spent longer sleeping and less time feeding and gained more weight than 21 infants from a control nursery, where the intensity of light and noise was not reduced. Differences were significant and became apparent only after discharge home; they were still present three months after the expected date of delivery, when infants from the night and day nursery were an average of 0–5 kg heavier (p<0.02). These findings suggest that physical environment has an effect (either direct or indirect) on the subsequent behaviour of preterm infants and that exposure to night and day is beneficial. © 1986, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.