NICU

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

 

Going Home and Life After the NICU

When a baby is discharged from the NICU, it can bring a new sense of relief. But, it can also raise many more questions about caring for your baby. Not having round the clock help from physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals may seem overwhelming, which is why we will work with you to develop a plan to follow after discharge.  We can provide you with detailed information about how to care for your baby and community resources for you to utilize.

 

Caring For Your Baby at Home

To keep your baby healthy following discharge, our team of healthcare professionals will meet with parents to discuss their role in treating their baby at home and any special training that may be required.

 

Your Baby’s Needs

At the WHR, you can learn basic and specialized skills needed to help care for your baby — in the NICU and at home. Our team provides families with the information they need for tube feeding, injections, central line care, and more to address each baby’s specific needs. Teaching will occur at the bedside throughout your baby's stay and again prior to discharge.

 

Transition to Home Program: This program guides families of high-risk infants through the transition-to-home process and ultimately reviews the child’s developmental milestones to ensure he/she is on track by the time he/she graduates from our follow-up program.  After a safe transition home, appointments are scheduled every 3-4 months through the first year of life and then every 6 months thereafter for a developmental Bayley’s evaluation which is a therapy assessment conducted and reviewed by our Speech Language Pathologist, Occupational Therapist and Clinical Neonatologist (until age 2-4, depending on the level of developmental progress).  One of the goals of this program is to prevent hospital readmission.   What is unique about our follow-up program is that we are accessible to the parents of our NICU babies by maintaining open communication after discharge from the NICU.

 

If you have questions about your baby's ongoing care, talk to your baby's doctor or nurse. We are here to help.

The Women's Hospital At Renaissance

5502 S. McColl Road Edinburg, Texas 78539

(956) 362-2229

 

The Women's Hospital at Renaissance /

Doctors Hospital at Renaissance Health System

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