Once they leave the NICU... just curious

daniellecleasby

So this is just me being curious, not a real important question. 

Once babies leave the NICU, can they go back?  Our Dr said with how little our girls are that if they got the flu or a bad cold that they'd end up back in the hospital (she was trying to stress how important it is to not have them around big groups, etc) So would they go back to the NICU or just the peds floor? They are both still under 6 lbs. 

Anyone know?

ams8099

Most hospitals say no. You'd have to go to peds.

amanda31H

No- they aren't allowed back in the NICU once they've been in the outside world.  It's not safe for the other babies.

They'd go to the pediatric ward. 

Haven1

They said they might re-admit DS2 if something happened while DS1 was still there. Most likely not though.

E&RMommy

All depends on your NICU.

DS went back at 28 days old due to a perirectal abscess/fistula for IV antibiotics.  Our NICU is ginormous at one of the biggest children's hospitals in the world.  He was about 1/4 mile away (no joke) from the micro premies and in an isolation room (nice for us!).

Most other hospitals it would be PICU or pedi floor.

I will say that being back in the NICU was almost depressing since we were so glad to be gone in the first place.  Just the smell of it makes my skin crawl.  At 6 mo he went into the Pedi ICU for RSV.

 

caitdana

We were told that when (at that point it was when and not if) we come back, Ella would go back to the PICU floor (pediatric icu).  Also, they said that if she had open heart surgery she would go to the PICU. She just have agionplasty and although she was critical, she was allowed to go back to the NICU.

WaitingforGrace

Mine would have gone back to the NICU in an isolation room or to the Intermediate NICU depending on the severity of the illness.

This is also for the largest Level IV NICU in the state.

There were several sick babies who were re-admits while we were there.

festivus

While my twins were in the NICU, a baby was being readmitted to our NICU (not sure of the specific issues). Sounds like it depends om the NICU...

aprilsarahjune

We were told that we would have been readmitted at any point before 6 months.  The way I understood it is that my hospital prefers to keep preemies under the care of preemie specialists (nurses, respiratory therapists, etc. but not necessarily neonatologists).

kkghotty

ams8099:

Most hospitals say no. You'd have to go to peds.

Yep, this is how it was for our hospital too.  Once they leave the NICU, they return to the peds if they have to go back to the hospital. 

finallyreilly

Our hospital would send them to the Peds ICU.  DS had the possibility of surgery about 2 weeks after birth and even though he was only 5lbs they would have put him in the peds ICU.  Once they leave they don't let them back in our NICU because of outside germs and exposure.

sarahjane936

I work at a Children's Hospital, and I've never seen a re-admit go to the NICU.  If they are readmitted with something like RSV, they go to the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit).