NICU: LIFE WHEN YOU GET HOME

It can be hard to get used to being at home with your baby after a stay in the newborn intensive care unit (also called NICU). You and your partner may have lots of different feelings about caring for your baby outside the hospital. For example, you may feel:

• Excited to bring your baby home
• Scared that your baby will get sick again
• Nervous to go out in public with your baby or let other people take care of her
• Happy to not be at the hospital but lonely at home
• That no one understands how hard this has been for you
• Like you’re a different person after the NICU stay and missing your old life
• Guilty and sad because your baby was in the NICU

It’s OK to have lots of different thoughts and feelings about caring for your baby at home. Your partner may have feelings that are different from yours. And your feelings may change as you learn more about your baby and how to care for her. It’s a journey for your whole family.

What can you do to keep your baby healthy at home?

It’s OK to invite people to your home and take your baby outside your home after the NICU. But babies who spend time in the NICU have a greater chance of getting infections than babies without a NICU stay. So take extra steps to keep your baby healthy while she’s building up her immune system, especially during cold and flu season. Your baby’s immune system helps protect her from infections. 

Here’s what you can do to help keep your baby healthy:

• Limit the number of people who come to your home.
• Ask visitors to wash their hands before touching your baby.
• Don’t let visitors smoke in your home or near your baby.
• Don’t let visitors who are sick, who have a fever or who may have been exposed to an illness near your baby.
• Ask any adult who may have contact with your baby to get a Tdap vaccination to prevent the spread of tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (also called whooping cough) to your baby. These infections can be dangerous for a baby.
• Try not to take your baby to crowded places, like the shopping mall and grocery stores.

NICU babies are more likely to get sick when they’re around other babies, children or adults. If you’re taking your baby to a child care center, make sure the staff follow these rules: 

• Caregivers must wash their hands before touching babies or children.
• Caregivers must wash their hands after changing diapers, touching used tissues and going to the bathroom.
• Sick babies and children aren’t allowed to attend child care.  Child care centers have rules about when children who have been sick can come back to daycare. For example, a child who has had a fever or been sick may not be allowed back to the center until he’s been symptom-free or has been on antibiotics for 24 hours.

If you’re having a child care provider come to your home to care for your baby, let her spend a few days with you and your baby before you go back to work or school. This gives her time to learn how to best take care of your baby and for your baby to adjust to the provider.

To make the adjustment of living with your new baby easier, accept offers of help from family and friends — they can babysit your other children, run errands, or clean the house so you have time to care for the baby or rest.

Treat yourself well by getting enough rest, eating well, and exercising moderately. Seek support and encouragement from doctors, nurses, veteran parents, support groups, or online communities.

And if you’re overwhelmed or depressed, do not hesitate to get professional help for yourself so you can fully enjoy your new baby.