Resources for Families Experiencing a NICU Stay
Whether or not your family had anticipated your baby experiencing a NICU stay, this time can feel overwhelming. Caring for your baby, balancing life at home, staying abreast of updates from your baby’s providers, and navigating new concerns can take a toll on new parents. If you are in the midst of this experience, you are not alone. Fortunately, many resources are available to help families feel supported through their baby’s time in the NICU. Here are some resources that may be a fit for your needs.
Your Hospital’s Own NICU Support Services
Your hospital likely has some support resources for families. In St. Louis, Children’s Hospital offers services including lactation support, parent education classes, a sibling playroom, structured support from previous NICU families, and more. A nurse or a hospital social worker can help connect you to whatever resources are available to you in your specific setting.
Mental Health Support
A mental health therapist can provide crucial support to new parents. While it may feel difficult to find the time, having a resource specifically for you to process what you are currently experiencing, as well as your birth, is an important part of healing. Some therapists have focused training and experience in working with NICU parents.
Peer Support
Connecting with other parents in the same stage of life can be extremely helpful. While well-meaning friends and family will do their best to understand what you’re experiencing, other parents walking the same path can relate on a different level. Postpartum Support International offers a virtual support group specifically for NICU postpartum parents, meeting weekly. This group is both for parents whose baby is currently in a NICU, as well as parents who have brought their baby home.
Hand to Hold is another resource for NICU-focused support groups, as well as a peer-to-peer mentor program. Their peer mentor program matches a new parents with a NICU graduate parent who had a similar experience so you can form a personal connection. This service is completely free to participants.
Tailored Resources
Graham’s Foundation offers extensive information for parents of premie babies, with many articles to help prepare families for birth, during their NICU stay, and after the baby (or babies) have come home. They also offer a peer mentoring program, matching new parents with a parent who has lived experience with their own premie.
The NICU Dad focuses on offering support and resources for new fathers whose baby is experiencing a NICU stay. Through tools like a podcast and Facebook group for dads, they offer connection and understanding to dads.
Local Support
You may have family and friends who are eager to help, and it can be hard to know how to organize their potential support when you have so much on your plate. A tool I like is a website called Give In Kind, which you can tailor to request different types of help like meal delivery, childcare (if you have older children), rides to and from the hospital, lawncare, and more. You can also share updates on your baby, which streamlines the communication that can start to feel overwhelming. A Wishlist feature also allows loved ones to purchase items that would be helpful to you while your baby is in the NICU or once you come home.
Finally, a postpartum doula can play an important role on your support team, either to help at home or to provide companionship and respite during your time in the NICU with your baby. A doula can lighten the load in terms of practical tasks and chores, provide much-needed emotional support, and offer resources and connections to make sure you are receiving the care you deserve.
If your family is currently experiencing a NICU stay, I wish you and your baby the best for a speedy trip home. I hope these resources are helpful during this time, and please feel free to reach out if any other information would be helpful to you at this time.
About the Postpartum Doula
Kathleen Robbins is a postpartum doula in the St. Louis area. She has worked with many families who have experienced a NICU stay and she is passionate about helping them feel supported and cared for during their time in the hospital and once they return home.
