Does a mother singing to her premature baby affect feeding in the neonatal intensive care unit?

Recent studies suggest that premature neonates exposed to music have reduced symptoms of stress, faster weight gain, and shorter neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stays. This p study attempted to measure contingent effects of mothers' singing during feedings. Mothers sang to their babies during 2 of 4 feedings on 2 consecutive days, logging songs they sang, and subjectively evaluating each feeding. Infants' heart and respiration rates were recorded as well as duration of feeding and volume of fluid taken orally; feeding velocity and percent of feeding goal were calculated. In paired t tests, no significant benefits or deterents assignable to the singing were observed.