NICU and visitors?

Question

I've read on here about people saying the NICU where their baby was, only allowed mothers to be there certain times of the day. When my son was in the NICU, my husband and I were allowed there 24 hours a day. From 8 am until 10 pm, the babies were allowed 2 visitors at a time, with approval from mommy of course.

My son was in 2 different NICU's. The first, he was with other babies born with birth defects, or babies going through withdrawals from drugs. After that, he was put in the NICU with the preemies.

Can anyone who had babies in the NICU tell me what the visitor situation was in the hospital with your baby?

This was in Virginia. We never had to leave, but we also had wristbands showing our sons name, and that we were mommy and daddy.

Answer 1

I had two kids in the NICU (my 3 yr old and my 8 month old) they were in different hospitals. the first hospital (where my 3 yr old was at) we could be there for 4 hours at a time then we had to leave for an hour for dr's to do their rounds, thats when we would eat so it was good for that to happen or we would have never left and ate...only two people were allowed at a time so if someone wanted to see him only one of us (my husband or myself) could take the visitor in (mainly cause they didn't want crowds)....

My second child that was in NICU, we could be there for 6 hours at a time and had to leave for 30 minutes for the dr to do his rounds. we were allowed four visitors at a time. at this place I was allowed to stay overnight (the had indivulal rooms with actual beds in the room for mommys and daddys), that was the best part about it, I could visit and rest at the same time (much needed after the emergency c-section)...

Answer 2

My son was also in NICU, and we could come and go as we pleased. They only put limits on extended friends and family members coming in. Which is fair enough.
I haven't heard of a hospital in Australia where they don't allow parents to come and go. My son has been in and out of hospital for 4 years, at 3 different hospitals.
I hope your little boy is alright now.


Note,
I have to say that I do think a lot of people on here tend to extend the truth.
I have an interest in multiple births, as my son was a twin. And love hearing about people who have multiples. I took a lot of interest in a certain person from the UK.
She claims she had triplets at 22 weeks. They spent 70 days in hospital. Right.
A whole lot of other lies. I tend to be very careful who I trust on here. After 1 account shut down by trolls you can never be too careful.

Answer 3

Depends on the level of NICU and the hospital. In the hospital where my son was born it was a fairly low level NICU (mostly babies with jaundice, needing antibiotics or general monitoring...anything more dire and they were sent to other hospitals for more extensive care.) We weren't allowed to be in the room while the medical staff were doing their rounds (patient confidentiality) they did all the babies at once so none of the parents were allowed in the room. Only mom, dad, and grandparents were allowed in and grandparents were only allowed in with one of the parents present (who were wearing the bracelets)...only two at a time.

When my BF had a baby that was preemie...she was at the hospital with the NICU that is for really sick babies. (She was only 24 1/2 weeks when she delivered.) Anyway, they were allowed two people at a time...no questions on relationship as long as you were accompanied by one of the parents with the bracelet. I don't know if they had a time that they weren't allowed in though...

Answer 4

My girls spent almost 6wks in the NICU & Special care nursery of the RBWH (brisbane australia hospital). Visiting hours were pretty "relaxed" as in you could get in when ever you wanted and leave when you wanted. The only "CLOSED" time was between 2-3pm daily. That was for the doctors to do their rounds.

The layout was around 4 babies to a room so it wasnt appropiate to be in there with your child while they were talking about another child. I didn't have a problem with this arrangement and now 6yrs later when I went to drop some care packages off to new parents of premi's the same hours are in place.

They gave you time to chilll out have some lunch, call family etc and use the expressing room. They also had no visitors without mum or dad there. My ex's crazy mother went up there one day (the only day I wasn't up there at dawn as I was doing some grocery shopping) and barged in and tried to take photos. She didn't kow which room we were in (13 rooms in total each with 4 infants in them). They forceably removed her and rung me straight away to see if I had given her permission to visit. Once I confirmed she was lying they had security escort her off the hospital grounds.

They had a special expressing room for mums, a lounge for family and a little kitchen. They also had two "rooming in rooms" where you could spend a few nights with your baby before going home.

They also had a special private NICU room for sensative cases, my friends conjoined twins were in there.

Answer 5

My son was in 2 different NICUs as well. He was transferred to Dayton Childrens 24 hours after birth, and their policy was parents were allowed in 24/7, and visitors were welcome (if on approval sheet) from 8am - 8pm. Although, my mom did stay with me pretty late one night and none of the staff had a problem with it. Dayton had a beautiful NICU, very welcoming and as home-like as you could get in a hospital. Each baby had his/her own private "area" with chairs, and the ability to set up a TV for siblings. We had him transferred to Cincinnati Children's when he was 10 days old, and they also let parents stay 24/7, but visitors were limited to 2 at a time, and the hours were strictly upheld to 8am - 8pm. The setup at Cincinnati was a bit more "institutional". No privacy with your baby, etc. But, all in all, we made the right choice, and the specialists at Cincinnati were able to get him home 3 days later, without a problem since...

Answer 6

In Columbus' Children's hospital the parents can be there 24/7
I know a woman who works there and she told me the policy is parents can be there all hours. As for visitors, it was 8am to 9pm.
When my daughter was there, she was in another part but they had nice areas for the families with places to sleep and things like that. I slept on a pull out couch in her room.
The woman I know works in the NICU with the preemies and the babies who were injured(SBS)

Answer 7

Both my kids were preemies in the NICU.

They were born at different hospitals and both had the same visitor rules as yours did.

Answer 8

My son became born 6/20 by using c- area because of the fact he became breach. He became an entire time era toddler. 8lbs 12ozs yet because of the fact he became so enormous the docs had a no longer easy time getting him out and he swallowed merconium. regularly toddlers or ok after 24 hrs yet for some reason my son wasn't. He wasn't getting adequate oxygen to fulfill the docs. He became born on a wed. and that i became sent homestead on Sunday (devoid of him). It became absolute torture for me and my husband. He became in NICU for 11 days. My husband and that i've got been on the wellbeing facility everday from the time the docs did their rounds in the morning to the time they did them at evening. We finally have been given to deliver him homestead with oxygen and a moniter, yet i can definitely say we don't even think of roughly that anymore. My son is a healthy 8mth previous devoid of issues in any respect. that's no longer easy to bypass by using even nonetheless it does get greater effective.

Answer 9

Every hospital sets its own policy. Sometimes a unit may ease the rules if it is not too busy. Also the rules seem to relax a little in the evening when there are fewer big shots around.

Answer 10

With my older son I believe we could be there 24 hours a day but for visitors other than mommy and daddy there could only be 2 at a time and only during certain hours. Also there was doctors rounds at certain time of days when we couldnt be there for like 1/2 hour or something like that and we live in a city with a lot of rural towns around so they airlift kids here so when new babies were coming in there couldnt be anyone in there.