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Department Of Neonatal Care

Everything You Need To Know About Neonatal Care

• Neonatology

• Neonatologists

• Why Need

• NICU

• Neonatal Care

• Facilities Available

• Conditions and Treatments

• Why Choose US

What is Neonatology?

Neonatology focuses on the health of newborns and the factors that affect their growth and survival. Neonatologists attend to patients during delivery and labor to look after high-risk deliveries. They consult and coordinate with obstetricians, pediatricians, and other medical specialists while addressing the health concerns of newborns. Besides treating babies born at a low birth weight or born prematurely, they care for infants with infectious diseases, breathing problems, and congenital malformations.

What Does a Neonatologist Do?

The role of neonatologists is to provide the following care:

• Diagnose and treat babies with conditions and health issues like birth defects, breathing disorders, and infections.
• Medically manage babies born prematurely, critically ill, or who need emergency surgery.
• Ensure that newborns with illnesses receive the proper nutrition for growth and healing.
• Provide care to the infant at delivery or a cesarean involving medical problems in the baby or mother that compromise the baby’s health and need treatment in the delivery room itself.
• Treat and stabilize newborn babies with any life-threatening conditions.

Neonatologists work in the newborn intensive care units or special care nurseries of hospitals. Once a newborn is discharged, neonatologists are also responsible for short-term and follow-up care. For this, your neonatologist will coordinate with your baby’s pediatrician.

Why is it needed?

Although your baby’s pediatrician solves the majority of the health problems of babies, a neonatologist is specifically trained to handle high-risk and complex situations.

Suppose your newborn is born prematurely or has a birth defect, serious illness, or injury. In that case, a neonatologist will assist during delivery and in the future care of your newborn. If a problem is identified before birth, a neonatologist may coordinate with your obstetrician in your baby’s care from pregnancy.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

Newborns who require intensive or critical medical care are put in a specific hospital area known as the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The NICU is equipped with advanced technology and has trained staff to provide special care for the babies. NICUs are also used in babies who need specialized nursing care. Babies who need critical care show better outcomes if born in a hospital with a NICU.

Sick or premature babies require special care in NICU. This can be unexpected or overwhelming for any parent. Hence, it’s best for you to understand why your baby needs to be in the NICU and what procedures may be needed for your baby.

What is neonatal care?

Neonatal care is the type of care received by a baby born prematurely or with illnesses.

Special units (NICU) provide care for babies born prematurely, at low birth weight, or with conditions that need immediate medical intervention. 

You may feel anxious about why your baby is sick or born prematurely or about the treatment they receive. Neonatologists will give you the right information about your baby’s needs and the condition they have.

Sometimes, the cause of the medical condition or premature birth may not be known by you.

For this, you can discuss with your neonatologists and ask why this might have happened at postnatal check-ups.

Facilities are available in our NICU

Babies are closely monitored in the NICU. Here are some facilities offered in the NICU:

Monitors

Monitors show and record vital signs such as breathing rate, heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels in the blood. As your baby breathes, small monitoring pads detect chest movement and pick up the impulses of a heartbeat. 

Open Warmer or Incubator

An open warmer allows easy access to the baby in this heat generated from a lamp heater placed near the baby’s mattress. And an incubator comes with an internal heat source and appears like an enclosed box-like, clear plastic bed.

Respiratory support equipment at NICU:

• suction catheter– is used to remove mucus from a baby’s throat, nose, or trachea. It keeps the baby’s breathing tubes clear and decreases the risks of aspiration.
• Nasal Cannula– is a hollow, flexible, with two small prongs that fit easily into the baby’s nose and deliver oxygen.
• Ventilator– is a machine that provides additional oxygen and breaths to your baby as required.
• Chest tube– is inserted in the space between the lungs and ribs and is used to remove excess fluid and air from the chest cavity to decrease respiratory distress and allow proper expansion of the lungs.

Intravenous (IV) therapy equipment

IV therapy involves inserting a flexible, small tube (called a catheter) into your baby’s blood vessels to deliver nutrients, medicines, fluids, or blood. IV pumps, umbilical catheters, and central and peripheral lines are used.

Photo-therapy at NICU

Phototherapy lights are used to treat jaundice. Excess accumulation of yellow color pigment called bilirubin occurs that gives a yellow color to your baby’s skin and eyes. These lights decrease the bilirubin levels by increasing the excretion through motion and urine.

Common Conditions and Treatments in the NICU

Here are some common conditions treated at NICU:

1. Anemia: Less amount of Red Blood Cells causes anemia in newborns. At NICU, we provide your baby with iron supplements to boost RBCs production.

2. Apnea: Instability in your child’s breathing is known as apnea. An infant’s lungs are continuously monitored in NICU to treat apnea, and all general measures are taken to prevent critical issues. 

3. Breathing Problems: Your baby may face breathing problems because of partial lung development. Continuously monitoring of lungs in the NICU can help improve breathing problems.
4. Heart Valve Abnormalities: The heart has many valves that transmit blood. Some babies are born with narrowed or closed valves that prevent the proper flow of blood. Doctors at NICU place an artificial graft (shunt) to restore blood flow.

5. Septal Defects: The heart has 4 chambers, and these chambers are divided by a wall (septum). A hole in these walls is known as a septal defect that can lead to improper blood circulation. Surgeons at NICU close this hole by patching, sewing, or patching to solve the septal defects.

6. Jaundice: Jaundice is caused when the liver eliminates bilirubin (a waste product) from the blood. A special blood transfusion or phototherapy is done at NICU to remove excess bilirubin from the baby.

The neonatology team at ONP hospital ensures to treat all these severe conditions and potential defects with complete dedication to bringing good health to the newborns.

Why choose ONP Hospital?

We are the leaders in treating extremely low-birth-weight or critically ill babies. Our team is focused on raising the standards of critical care for newborns. We aim to provide state-of-the-art care with higher standards to save newborns’ lives around the globe.

Our team provides advanced care using innovative treatments to solve health problems in newborns. We believe in developing new standards of care for treating all possible congenital disabilities and conditions in newborns.