5 Unexpected reasons your baby can be admitted to the NICU

There are many unexpected reasons your baby can be admitted to the NICU. According to this article on parenting magazine, 10% to 15% of babies enter the NICU each year. While the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)’s primary function is for emergencies, severe conditions, and premature babies, some admissions are highly preventable. For example excessive weight loss due to GERD or insufficient milk intake from exclusive breastfeeding. Both of these situations are preventable. Therefore, you can avoid admission and readmission to the NICU. Below is a list of unexpected reasons your baby can be admitted to the NICU and what you can do to avoid them.

5 Unexpected reasons your baby can be admitted to the NICU

1. Breathing problems:

   Although Reba Bertrand’s daughter was born prematurely, she was healthy and didn’t need to stay in the NICU. Her daughter learned to latch well and was able to breastfeed but kept getting tired fast and not eating enough. One day Reba had high blood pressure and went to the hospital for a check-up only to find that her baby stopped breathing and needed to be admitted to the NICU right the way. Thanks to Reba’s effort to feed her baby so she could gain weight, she was discharged after only 10 days. Reba thinks her daughter could’ve stayed longer if she didn’t thrive. Read Reba’s story here and see how she coped with NICU time, was able to shorten the stay, prevented further admissions and continued to breastfeed after the NICU.

2. Insufficient milk intake from exclusive breastfeeding:

   Breastfeeding and breastmilk provide the necessary nutrition for most babies. However, if the mother has a low or no milk supply, the priority is to feed the baby. After 4 days of no milk intake, Dr. Christie Del Castillo’s son required immediate admission to the NICU. Subsequently, the diagnosis was multiple neuro-developmental disabilities due to the lack of nutrition during the early days. For this reason, Dr. Del Castillo founded the “Fed is Best foundation” and help educate parent of this highly preventable disaster. Read up on her inspirational story to learn how to identify the symptoms of insufficient milk intake.

3. Weight loss due to GERD:

   Erika’s son wasn’t able to retain food in his stomach leading to a rapid weight loss along with hours-long of crying periods due to extreme pain from Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). For the next four weeks, Erika struggled with her son’s rejection to feed, weight loss, and inconsolable crying. Finally, by the fifth week, and an ultimatum from her Dr’s to tube-feed if her son didn’t thrive, Erika found the right feeding system. Read Erika’s happy ending story here and see how she was able to prevent NICU time and tube feeding.

4. Mom develops a fever while delivering:

   According to this study, there is a correlation between epidurals and fever during labor. The study also showed that about 4.4% of babies with moms whose temperatures were normal, needed resuscitation after delivery; compared to more than 12% of babies whose mothers had a fever. Jessica from LIC, NY delivered her baby after an exhausting 22-hour labor, which triggered a low fever. Her baby spent two days in observation while in the NICU. Luckily, she was in the same hospital, so she had the opportunity to visit her very often and went home together.

5. Feeding tube implants due to Reflux:

   Leah Hargreaves from the UK brought her baby to the hospital, which led to a full day in the NICU after doctors implanted feeding tubes in her baby. Her son was dehydrated, malnourished and diagnosed with failure to thrive. Leah took it upon herself to search and found Bare^® Air-free which she used it to feed her baby and mitigate the Acid Reflux symptoms. “Bye bye feeding tubes!”, said Leah with a smile on her face. Read her happy ending story here.

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