Webcams can help improve early bonding between parents and premature babies, researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University have found.

The majority of parents quizzed in the study, published in BMC Pediatrics, benefited from seeing their baby 24 hours a day, seven days a week in neonatal units.

Parents said webcams gave them an increased feeling of closeness, enhanced emotional well-being and improved post-birth recovery.

The technology also increased the involvement of family and friends through shared images from the post-natal area.

Those interviewed said webcams allowed them to "feel that they were with their baby" even during periods of separation.

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