based on the principle of recognising the parents as integral members of the care team, who work in partnership and collaboration with healthcare professionals in the planning and delivery of their infant’s care.49 By encouraging parental presence, FCC facilitates parent– infant closeness, including SSC and breast feeding, and synchronises cortisol variation between the preterm infant and mother. Several mechanisms may be involved in improving outcomes from parent–infant contact such as improved sleep, pain management with moderated needs for pain medication, infant touch and massage with resultant brain growth-promoting factors and oxytocin, interactive communication with the parent, positive auditory experience,74 and all enhancing neurological, neurobehavioural and neurocognitive outcomes in preterm infants.53 75 Close physical and emotional contact between parent and preterm infant also reduces short-term and long-term parental stress76 and decreases infant’s cortisol levels and pain responses.53 Electroencephalogram assessments indicate that cerebral cortical development is promoted by parent–infant interaction and brain maturation may also be accelerated, particularly in frontal brain regions, which have been shown to be involved in regulation of attention, cognition and emotion—domains known to be deficient in preterm infants.77 Other reported benefits of FCC include reduction in length of stay, and moderate to severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia,49 which in itself is a strong predictor of poor neurodevelopmental outcome. Family-integrated care (FIC) is a more recent concept which draws on all the essential elements of FCC but advances it further by enabling parents to become their infant’s primary caregiver and to actively participate in their care. In a recent large multicentre randomised controlled trail, FIC significantly improved infant weight gain and parental stress and anxiety.78 Improvement in breastfeeding rates and length of stay has also been reported. CONCLUSIONS The third trimester is a critical period of brain development. Prematurity and its related experiences can push the trajectory of the developing brain to an atypical path during this most vulnerable period, which is spent largely in the NICU, in the absence of positive maternal influences. FCC and developmental care promote parent–infant interaction and are safe and feasible in most settings and socioeconomic conditions. They have the potential to enhance the preterm baby experience and improve neurodevelopmental outcomes globally in the high-risk preterm population. These practices should be considered part of the neuroprotection care bundle and are important considerations in future clinical trials of pharmacological therapies for brain protection in preterm infants. Acknowledgements We would like to thank Dr Kiran More for his technical and editing support with references and images. Contributors RS conceptualised and wrote all sections of the manuscript, created images and obtained permission for use of images. NJR contributed to the sections on preterm brain development, sensory development, brain MRI abnormalities and medical strategies to improve outcomes. CTW-W contributed to the family-centred and developmental care sections. The final critical review of article was done by all three authors. Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. Map disclaimer The depiction of boundaries on this map does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of BMJ (or any member of its group) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, jurisdiction or area or of its authorities. This map is provided without any warranty of any kind, either express or implied. Competing interests None declared. Patient consent for publication Not required. Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed. Data availability statement No data are available. N/A. ORCID iDs Roopali Soni http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1869-1922 Charlotte Tscherning Wel-Wel http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7111-8979 Nicola J Robertson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5783-0828 REFERENCES 1 Blencowe H, Cousens S, Chou D, et al. Born too soon: the global epidemiology of 15 million preterm births. 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