Approximately 12%, or 500,000 infants, are born preterm each year in the United States alone. Although survival rates of preterm infants have increased with advances in medical care, the risk of developmental delay and disability has remained constant. Very preterm infants (<32 weeks gestation) necessitate care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for an average of three months after birth, which is a significant period of time coinciding with a critical window of brain development. While medical factors, such as brain injury, can heighten the risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcome, the NICU environment may also have deleterious effects on early brain structure and function.