NICU moms, what would you include on a list of things you needed/wanted during your time in the NICU?
Everything from a nursing cover and boppy, to a good book to read and snacks. Any ideas? What made the time a little more comfortable?
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A dedicated tote bag for all my NICU stuff, a huge water bottle, phone, phone charger, a shawl cardigan which I used as a nursing cover, snacks! I found the My Brest Friend works better than the Boppy for little babies.
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@Ginabean3: I used so many bags ! A food bag, a dirty laundry bag, a bathroom bag ... bags, bags, bags!
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Agree with @Ginabean3: 's list-especially agree about the Brest Friend vs Boppy for feeding tiny babies! My husband did a lot of running home for things. In addition to what's above, I'd add:
1) Your favorite (unscented) hand lotion: you do so much hand washing when you scrub in before entering that my hands were quickly scaly and dry.
2) Quarters for quick snacks from the vending machine. When my son was under the Bili lights we got to hold him for 10 minutes every 3 hours and I didn't want to risk missing a minute of holding, him so convenient food was a must.
3) A robe. I spent a of time walking back and forth between my room and the NICU, and I stayed much warmer with a robe than in just a hospital gown.
4) Kindle/iPad/Nook with a good book on it. When I couldn't hold my son or was pumping, I wanted to be near him, so I let him sleep and did some reading. -
Phone charger--an extra long one would have been nice!--I had to pump in a separate room so I watched Netflix a lot on my phone
Easy snacks like nuts or granola bars--we had to leave the unit to eat or drink anything so I tried to eat quickly
A nice water bottle
Boppy pillow (I sat on it at first!)
A blanket & mobile for LO to make his space seem more homey
Books to read to LO
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A cute sign with baby's name on it to hang on the isolette
A comfy hoodie with pockets
+1 to snacks and a nice water bottle
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@Mrs. Tiger: the sign is a great idea! We didn't realize for the first few days that all paperwork said baby boy and some of the night nurses didn't know his name!
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@jhd: yup, happened to us too! Or some started calling him by his middle name because it was more traditional/easier to pronounce
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@Mrs. Tiger: the sign is a great addition. Our NICU had a receptionist who crafted really cute signs for all the babies so we didn't have to worry about that!
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@ChiCalGoBee: I definitely had lotion on the list because that is so true! Constant hand washing! My hands were raw.
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I agree with the my breast friend pillow.
Here was my list
-BF pillow (my Brest friend)
-Nursing cover
-Maybe a special blanket to drape over the isolette at night. They did to shelter the babies from the hospital fluorescent lights.
-slippers
-power strip to plug in everything in. There's never enough outlets
-Nicu journal*, if the hospital doesn't give them out
-preemie milestone calendar* (*can be purchased at preemiestore.com) I got a lot of compliments on it from nurses.
-CD player and baby lullaby (if you have permission. Some don't want that extra noise. We played it when we were there about 1-2 hrs a day).
-We particularly liked the Rockabye baby CDs. We got the Beatles, Pink Flloyd, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Elton John. You don't have buy them. Your library might have them (ours does). Oh, Pandora I think has a Rockabye baby station which is free.
-preemie clothes. Sleepers with snaps are best. Not zippered ones. Oh, you might be able to ask your local mommy group to see if anyone has any to give you without having to buy preemie clothes
Oh, we had twins so we were able to have our own private room. My hospital had medela symphony pumps in each room but I still felt better pumping under my nursing cover. -
@bluestriped bee: power strip is a great idea! Outlets were hard to come by, especially since baby was plugged into a lot of them
I'm curious, did your NICU provide any clothes for you to use? We had our own, but the hospital also had plenty for us to use (and even take home if we wanted). I don't know if that's common or not. -
@cmomma17: yeah, they had preemie clothes but said we could bring in our own clothes for them to wear. My mothers of multiples group has a preemie closet that the deliver to moms when the babies are discharged. They did ask us to wait until the babies were closer to discharge because they may or maynot be in premie clothes when they leave. Ours did leave in premie clothes and were in them for about a month.
Oh, they (the hospital) didn't have a ton to give us, but did put them in their going home outfits. We got to the hospital kinda late and didn't have time to change into our going home outfits. -
@jhd: we couldn't eat in the nicu either. We could have beverages (hot or cold) but they had to have lids.
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@bluestriped bee: our hospital seemed to have tons! And for my baby, that was newborn sized not preemie (he was born full term on his due date). We kept one or two special outfits but left the rest behind. We are donating all of our newborn clothes back to the NICU and will probably do a yearly donation.
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@cmomma17: yeah, I have some preemie clothes I bought (not borrowed) that I want to donate back to the hospital.
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@Mrs. Tiger: the first day DD was in NICU I noticed all the signs on the isolettes and immediately made one for her when we went home for a couple of hours! I even put a picture of DH and I on there and a message to DD.
@ChiCalGoBee: totally agree with the lotion. My hands were so wrecked from all the hand washing!!!! -
@Mrs. Tiger: You're now reminding me that the sign on my son's isolette, which they made (and I was SO touched by!), did not make it home with us
. I made a point of asking if we could take it and they said yes, but it wasn't in all of our literature when we brought him home. I would have loved to have had it for his baby book.
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@bluestriped bee: our first nicu we were allowed to have a drink with a lid, but when we were transferred to another one you weren't allowed anything, not even water. it was tough!
that's awesome you got a private room with your babies! we had one for a few days at our home hospital before the transfer and it really made all the difference for pumping and getting to know our baby! -
@cmomma17: we were at two NICUs and both had clothes for the babies. preemie sized and full term (our LO was full term). the first clothing he wore was a little white teeshirt that one of the nurses put on him from the NICU stash.
they also had different kinds of sleep sacks on hand too. LO loved the Halo ones. our second hospital also had clothes and had a collection of quilts collected from a local group and every baby was given one. so we have that and maybe a onesie or two that they gave him.
ETA that''s a great idea to donate clothing back to the nicu -
Great post that is very helpful to a new mom with a NICU baby! And thank you for reminding me to put hand lotion in my bag for tomorrow - my hands are getting so dry!
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-Hand CREAM worked better than lotions. I even used my lanolin in a pinch.
-Pumping bra
- Robe or zipper hoodie to keep my shoulders warm.
- Fuzzy slippers.
- Long 10 foot iPhone charger cord
- Lots of hair ties.
- Chapstick
- Some kind of bottled shake like Ensure or Carnation breakfast or something - anything you can just pound in a pinch. Our hospital had a family fridge area with a microwave, so you could keep the shakes cold or keep some frozen burritos in the freezer. -
For me the most important thing besides those basic was something to do. I cross-stitched a birth announcement and I also made a bunch of cute holiday cards with lo's footprints since we were in the NICU over all of the holidays (which was rough).
I definitely left a blanket there and I had a drawer next to the chair in his private room with all of my supplies. We weren't technically allowed food, but I definitely snuck clif bars and such. I was there for nearly 5 months so the nurses knew me and were pretty lenient.
We also had a fake Christmas tree with lights and a couple of ornaments.
they also had different kinds of sleep sacks on hand too. LO loved the Halo ones. our second hospital also had clothes and had a collection of quilts collected from a local group and every baby was given one. so we have that and maybe a onesie or two that they gave him.Reply
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