What do I Need For My NICU Baby?

  

Nesting is a natural part of pregnancy.  Moms-to-be want everything to be perfect and ready for when their new bundle of joy arrives.  For moms facing a lengthy NICU stay, the nesting process is both challenging and emotional.

"What do I need for my NICU baby" is the question I am most frequently asked by expecting moms and their family members.  Despite my best efforts my NICU nesting was ineffective. I should have done a few things differently. The following tips are a combination of things I did to prepare and things I should have done.  Hindsight is always 20:20.  

Being Ready At Home: 

Tip One: I spent months (and I do mean months) setting up baby boy's nursery.  I picked a theme.  Bought decor.  Organized his clothes.  Reorganized his clothes.  Hung decorations. Watched my husband and father-in-law put together his crib.  Organized his clothes for a third time.   

Zero.  This is the number of nights, at 9 months of age, that One in Fifty Thousand has spent in his nursery.   My husband warned me about this and he was 100% right!  He wanted to put baby's crib in our bedroom.... but I didn't listen.  Fast-forward.  The hubs had to take apart and reset up the crib next to our bed and the nursery is a well decorated storing ground for One in Fifty Thousand's clothes. 

And so tip number one..... put baby's crib (or rock-in-play) right next to your bed.  After a NICU stay you are likely not going to want your sweet baby  all the way down the hall from you.

Tip Two: Meal Delivery: This was LIFESAVING,  so get someone to set this up for you.  My amazing church family brought us home cooked meals three days a week for the first three months that we were home from the NICU. After living off of hospital cafeteria food for two months we needed this badly!

Tip Three: A plan for pumping at home.  Breast milk is liquid gold in the NICU.  They have spaces and resources for you to pump everywhere.  However, you do need to leave the NICU so having a plan for pumping at home is important.  I rented a pump from my hospital to take home with us.  This made it easy because I didn't have to learn to use two different pumps.  You could also register for one.  AND DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP OVER PUMPING!  DO WHAT YOU CAN.  I only lasted 6 months and by month 4 I had to supplement some with formula.  And that's okay. 

In the NICU: Things for Baby: 

1. Receiving Blankets: This was an item I didn't bring and so my baby had to use the hospital ones.  During our NICU stay I learned that you are allowed to give receiving blankets to the nurses and they will use them to make-up baby's bed.  I wish I had done this. It makes it feel more like home.

 2. Clothes with snaps:  Once baby is out of the warmer bed he/she can wear clothes from home and the best clothes are ones with snaps.  Why you ask? Cords.  Baby will be hooked up to lots of monitors and the snaps allow you to go around the cords.

3. Books: In the very beginning reading and singing to your baby are the main ways you can interact and bond. Especially if you have to wait to hold your new bundle of joy. For this reason you will want to back a few picture books.  

4. High Contrast pictures.  So I just happened to bring these with us when I was packing for the NICU and they are awesome for NICU babies! My mother-in-law got them off of Amazon. They are made by Wee Gallery and they have all different sets.  I used to tape one or two up in baby's crib when I had to leave for the night.  According to the nurses he looked at them a lot when I wasn't there (which helped with my mom guilt).

Here I am using the cards with baby boy.

Get Yours Here

5. The baby art cards made me wish that I had brought a few black and white photos of my husband and I to hang up in baby's crib at night.  Again hind-sight is 20:20.

In the NICU: Things for You: 

1. A pillow and blanket.  You will be tired.  Capital T tired.  Plan on leaving one at the bedside.

2. Something to keep you busy.  You will have less time then you think and I was never sure where the time went.  But you will have some downtime when baby is sleeping, etc. so have a book, magazine, tablet, coloring book; anything to keep you busy and keep your mind from racing.  I used to keep my son's baby books in his NICU room so that I could add to them as I had time.  

3. Shower shoes!!!!  If you ever need to stay the night you will want these.  Most hospitals have a parent resource center with a shower.  They even have little travel sizes of shampoo, and other toiletries, but they do not have shower shoes. And if you are anything like me you will really really want these. 

4. A hands free pumping bra.  You will spend a lot of your time pumping at the baby's bedside or in pumping rooms so having a hands free pumping bra gives you the ability to multi-task and even use pumping as an opportunity for me-time.

5. Your camera phone.  You will likely already have this with you, but my tip is to USE it.  I didn't take a ton of NICU pictures, but luckily my husband did.  I used to think I wouldn't want NICU pictures but now I like seeing them. They are part of our story and it's amazing to see how far our little warrior has come.  Quick side note: be sure to clean it with alcohol wipes before you arrive to baby's bedside. 

Did I forget anything???  NICU Mom Vets, what would you add to this list?