Premature babies need very special care by highly skilled and
trained nurses. One of the primary contributing factors towards
their recovery is the sterile environment of the Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit. Premature babies have immature immune
systems and are susceptible to infections which could be
life-threatening.
Rules and Regulations
- You may call anytime to check on your baby.
- Always wash and scrub your hands when you arrive in
NICU.
- If you have more than one baby in NICU, wash hands
between visiting babies.
- Only visit with your own baby.
- Never visit any of the other little patients.
- Do not visit while the nurse shift is changing over and
they are briefing the new shift.
- Do not visit your baby if you are sick without checking
with the staff.
- Do not bring along the family for visits without
arranging with the staff or checking that you may bring
in a visitor. Usually visits are limited to Mom and Dad
only. Ministers are welcome by appointment.
- Do not tamper with your baby's equipment and monitors.
- Bring along toys, tapes and music for your baby.
- You may be allowed to provide personal clothing and
blankets for your baby.
- You will be encouraged to breastfeed or express breast
milk for your baby, even if your baby is not feeding
yet, the milk can be frozen for use at a later date.
- The nurse caring for your baby will provide you with
information on the babies progress and will advise you
if you may change a nappy, hold, bath or breastfeed.
Some infants are too sick to be held, so always check
first.
- In an emergency, or during a procedure you may be asked
to leave. Some procedures make your baby cry and can be
upsetting for you as a parent to watch, until you get
used to it - such as the drawing of blood. The nurses
also prefer that your baby does not associate you with
pain. You will be able to comfort your baby after any
procedure.
- The NICU remains a very sterile environment, and a major
concern is the amount of traffic through NICU. Nurses,
Dr's, specialists, cleaning staff, visitors, equipment
mechanics... It helps to minimize the amount of exposure
the sick infant gets from infections that can be passed
on to them. Premature babies can very quickly pick up a
virus and get very ill or even die from complications.
The smaller baby is at a much higher risk, and when they
do get sick, their progress is setback, sometimes quite
dramatically because their energy which is spent on
growing now has to be spent on fighting an infection.
These babies end back up on oxygen or sometimes require
ventilation or nasal feedings because they are too sick
to feed or breathe normally. Germs are spread from the
mouth, nose and from the hands. Washing your hands and
wearing a mask over your nose and mouth can prevent the
spreading of germs to a large extent.
- You need to attend a class in infant/child CPR prior to
the discharge of your baby from NICU.
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