The Jennifer Gandel Kachura Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) handles a full range of medical problems of premature and critically ill newborns. Pediatric anesthesia, general surgical and neurosurgical services are available when needed. Diagnostic capabilities include laboratory medicine, radiology (ultrasound, CT and MRI) and echocardiography. Cardiovascular surgery for patent ductus arteriosus is performed in the NICU, which is a 21-bed unit.
The staff provides extensive support and teaching to prepare families to provide ongoing care at home. Members of your baby's care team are here to answer any questions you have.
Care team members may include:
- Pediatrician
- Neonatologist
- Neonatal Nurse Practitioner
- Registered Nurse
- Lactation Consultant
- Occupational/Physical/Respiratory Therapists
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Through the generosity of several donors, the NICU offers a family room, which provides a private resting space for two primary caregivers actively involved in the care of their newborn. Only two visitors are allowed at the bedside at one time.
Most preterm babies stay in the hospital until their due date. As the baby grows and develops, he or she may be moved to the to the Special Care Nursery.
The Full Term Nursery is designed to provide unified mother-baby nursing for infants who are term or near-term and who have no acute medical problems.
Donor Milk Program
Sinai’s NICU is the first in Maryland to offer its smallest patients a diet of 100 percent human breast milk. Mothers of premature infants who weigh less than 1,250 grams – about 2.75 pounds – have the option to feed their babies donor breast milk if they are unable to provide their own. For these babies, breast milk is treated with a fortifier made completely from human milk to give them sufficient calories, phosphorus and calcium. This human milk diet protects the most premature infants from the dangerous condition necrotizing enterocolis (NEC).