A playlist for our littlest, most-vulnerable patients

The soothing and comforting power of music has long been known. It’s the reason bedrooms, living rooms, and nurseries all over the world are so often filled with song.

Well now, new research shows* music — and more specifically music therapy — can have an equally-powerful impact on the littlest, most vulnerable patients in our hospitals.

Music is helping premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) handle environmental stressors better, which helps them sleep better, eat better, and gain weight faster. As a result, baby girls go home 12 days sooner, and baby boys 2 days sooner.

So we asked community members like you what songs they would use to replace the blips and beeps and whirring of machines in a NICU. More than 1,000 people answered, and our playlist is:

1. Hush Little Baby
2. Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
3. You Are My Sunshine
4. What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
5. You Are So Beautiful – Joe Cocker
6. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
7. Imagine – John Lennon
8. Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in A – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
9. Lullaby and Goodnight
10. House at Pooh Corner – Loggins & Messina
11. Baby Mine – Dumbo

Check out the songs on your own, and share the playlist with others you know!

*Link to article on NICU music therapy.