Music therapist Kristina Casale (right) plays a special lullaby for the Gallus triplets that was written by their parents, Gregor Martynus and Jana Gallus (left).
Photos: UCLA Health/Barb Consiglio
As the UCLA medical team monitored the triplets, another care team entered their lives: a group of music therapists using an auditory device aimed at helping preemies develop, feed and grow. Premature infants in the NICU — especially those born before 34 weeks — struggle with oral feeding. They typically haven’t developed the reflex to suck, breathe and swallow simultaneously, which inhibits their ability to gain weight.
It’s for this reason that music therapist Jenna Bollard sought to study whether a pacifier-activated lullaby device, or PAL, might help. Its secret ingredient: It plays a personal lullaby that parents write, sing and record for their baby.
“Allowing parents to use their voice and the special song that they created on this medical device allows them to aid their baby in these very clinical-focused goals,” says Bollard, manager of expressive arts therapies at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital.
The PAL encourages preemies to strengthen their oral feeding by playing soft music that’s appropriate for the baby’s developmental stage, when the baby sucks on the pacifier connected to the device. Bollard’s research is intended to determine if use of the device improves babies’ abilities to feed on their own and gain weight naturally, shortening their stay in the NICU. Early results from the research, which Bollard hopes to publish soon, suggest that 70 percent of participants increased their proficiency using a pacifier while the PAL was used.
A baby in the NICU at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital is given a pacifier that plays a lullaby sung by her parents when she sucks on it. The device helps preemies develop the skills necessary to feed, while giving parents a way to bond with their babies when they can’t be there.
Gallus and Martynus worked with Kristina Casale, a music therapist in the NICU, to write and record a lullaby to the tune of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” with each of the three verses made out to one of the triplets.
Chorus
Don’t worry, about a thing
Cause every little thing is gonna be alright
Singing don’t worry, about a thing
Cause every little thing is gonna be alright
[Verse – Kian]
Fiesty Little Kian
You smile like the rising sun
Your cute little nose
Wiggles in your sleep
We’ll sing a sweet song
A melody pure and true
Singing this is our message to you
For the families who participate in the program, the songwriting process can be an emotional one. “They create these special songs with us by sharing what they want their baby to know, what they see in their baby’s personality and what they dream of for their baby,” Bollard says. “They get to express all of the emotions they’re processing during what can be a very difficult time.”
But among the many ways that clinical treatments help preemies in the NICU, Bollard and the medical staff at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital note that parents are and will always be a crucial component of care. “Parents make all the difference, and I often tell parents that they are the best part of this equation,” said Shelly Frisco, a nurse in the NICU who works closely with Bollard and her team. “Technology can only do so much. We as medical practitioners can only do so much. However, you are your baby’s best medicine.”
— Ryan Hatoum
