Helping children understand why a new baby is in the hospital after being born early can be a challenging task. Howard Stein, MD, director of the Hillabrand Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at ProMedica Russell J. Ebeid Children’s Hospital, shares a few ways that you can explain to young children why their baby brother or sister has to stay at the hospital for a little bit longer.
What is the NICU?
Babies have to stay at the hospital in a place called the NICU when they are born early or sometimes if they have some health issues when they are born.
What happens in the NICU?
When babies are born early, they are small and need to grow bigger before they can come home. At the hospital in the NICU, babies are able to keep growing just like they would have inside their mom’s belly.
What might we see when we visit the NICU?
When you visit the baby in the NICU, they will be lying in a bed and might have lots of cords and wires attached to them. These cords and wires help the doctors monitor things like how fast the baby’s heart is beating or how warm their body is. They may also make sure they are getting enough oxygen when they breathe to make sure that they are healthy. They might also have a cord that feeds them food until they are big and strong enough to eat on their own.
When will the baby come home?
Once the baby has grown, can stay warm on their own and be able to fully breastfeed or drink from a bottle, they will be ready to come home. Usually that happens around the time that they were expected to be born had they stayed in their Mom’s belly for nine months.
Will the baby always be small?
Usually, babies who are born early grow up to be completely normal in size, but some may always be a little bit small, and that’s OK!
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