What does nicu mean

When Your Baby's in the NICU (for Parents)

What Is the NICU?

When babies are born early, have health problems, or a difficult birth they go to the hospital's NICU. NICU stands for "neonatal intensive care unit." There, babies get around-the-clock care from a team of experts.

Most of these babies go to the NICU (NIK-yoo) within 24 hours of birth. How long they stay depends on their health condition. Some babies stay only a few hours or days; others stay weeks or months.

You may hear the NICU called:

• a special care nursery
• an intensive care nursery
• a newborn intensive care nursery

Who Can Visit the NICU?

Parents can visit and spend time with their babies who stay in the NICU. Other family members might be able to visit, but only during set hours and only a few at a time. Children visiting the NICU must be well (not sick) and should have all their immunizations. Check with the hospital staff about which family members can see your baby.

Some units require guests to wear hospital gowns. You may need to wear gloves and a mask.

Everyone who comes into the NICU must wash their hands before they enter. (There will be a sink and antibacterial soap in the room and near the entrance of the NICU.) This is a crucial part of keeping the NICU as clean as possible so the babies aren't exposed to germs.

You may be tempted to bring toys, decorations, or other items in your baby's room, but check with the nurse first. If allowed, these things should be easy to clean (no stuffed animals). Some hospitals let parents tape pictures or other decorations to the outside of a baby's incubator.

What's the Medical Equipment for?

When you first enter the NICU, it's normal to feel a little alarmed by all the equipment you see. But it's there to help your baby get well. Here's a brief look at some equipment you might find:

• Infant warmers: These are small beds with heaters over them to help babies stay warm while being monitored. Because they are open, they allow easy access to babies.
• Incubators: These are small beds enclosed by clear, hard plastic. Temperature in the incubator is controlled to keep your baby's body temperature where it should be. Doctors, nurses, and other caregivers care for babies through holes in the sides of the incubator.
• Phototherapy: Some newborns have a problem called jaundice, which makes the skin and whites of the eyes yellow. Phototherapy treats jaundice. During treatment, babies lie on a special light-therapy blanket and have lights attached to their beds or incubators. Most babies only need phototherapy for a few days.
• Monitors: Monitors let nurses and doctors keep track of your baby's vital signs (things like temperature, heart rate, and breathing) from any place in the NICU. Monitors include:
  • Chest leads: These small, painless stickers on your baby's chest have wires that connect to monitors. They track heart rate and number of breaths.
  • A pulse oximetry (or pulse ox): This machine measures your baby's blood oxygen levels. Also painless, the pulse ox is taped to your baby's fingers or toes like a small bandage and emits a soft red light.
  • A temperature probe records your baby's temperature and shows it on the monitor. This is a coated wire placed on your baby's skin with a patch.
  • Blood pressure is monitored through an arterial line or a blood pressure cuff.
• Feeding tubes: Often, premature babies or babies who are sick can't breastfeed or take a bottle yet. Others can breastfeed or take a bottle, but still need extra calories to grow. These babies get nutrition (formula or breast milk) through a feeding tube. Tubes enter through the mouth or nose and go into a baby's stomach. They are taped in place so they don't move around. Nurses change the tubes often to prevent soreness.
• IVs: An intravenous catheter (or IV) is a thin, bendable tube that goes into a vein to give medicines and fluids. Almost all babies in the NICU have an IV. These usually are in the hands or arms, but some babies have them in other places, like the feet, legs, or scalp. IVs allow some medicines to be given in small amounts around-the-clock instead of giving your baby shots every few hours. Treatment with an IV may be called a "drip" or "infusion."
• Lines. Some babies need to get greater amounts of fluids and medicines than an IV can give. They get larger tubes called central lines put into a large vein in the chest, neck, or groin. Surgeons put in central lines. Arterial lines are placed in arteries, not veins. They're used to check blood pressure and oxygen levels in the blood (but some babies may have a blood pressure cuff instead).
• Ventilators: Babies in the NICU sometimes need extra help to breathe. A baby is connected to the ventilator (or breathing machine) by an endotracheal tube (a plastic tube placed into the windpipe through the mouth or nose). Babies who've been in the NICU for a long stay — months at a time — may have a tracheostomy (a plastic tube put into the windpipe) that's connected to the ventilator on the other end.
• Oxygen hood or nasal cannula: Some babies need extra oxygen but don't need a ventilator. Babies who can breathe on their own might get oxygen from plastic tubes in the nose (called a nasal cannula) or from an oxygen hood placed over the head.

Can I Hold My Baby?

Depending on your baby's health, you might be able to hold your little one even if he or she is on a ventilator or has an IV. If the doctors feel that would be too much, you can still hold your baby's hand, stroke his or her head, and talk and sing to him or her. A gentle touch will be the most reassuring.

But for some very premature infants, touching is stressful. Doctors may suggest that you limit physical touch, but still spend as much time as possible with your baby. Check with the doctor or nurses to figure out how much and what type of touch is best.

If you can, skin-to-skin contact (or "kangaroo care") is a good way to bond with your baby:

• Place your baby (who's usually dressed in just a diaper and a hat) on your chest underneath your shirt, so your little one is resting on your skin.
• Loosely close your shirt over your baby to help keep him or her warm.

Skin-to-skin contact can help with breastfeeding and improve healing times so that babies go home sooner.

How Can I Help Care for My Baby?

Mothers may be able to breastfeed their babies or offer pumped breast milk or formula in a bottle. If you need help breastfeeding or pumping, ask a nurse or lactation consultant.

Because many babies in the NICU can't yet feed on their own (either due to early development or health problems), they can get breast milk or formula through a feeding tube.

Babies in the NICU are on a feeding schedule. Your baby's nurse can tell you when your baby should eat and sleep. The more time you spend with your baby, the more you will learn about:

• what type of interaction your baby likes (stroking, singing, etc.)
• what time of day your baby is the most alert
• how long your baby can respond to you before getting tired
• when your baby is stressed and needs to rest

Talk in a calm, soothing voice, keep lights dim, and keep noise to a minimum. Although you may want to interact with your baby often, let your baby sleep when he or she needs to.

How Can I Feel Less Stressed?

Having a baby in the NICU can be one of the most stressful times in your life. You may be away from your support circle, such as friends, family, and other children. Your life may seem like it's been turned upside down as you wait for the day when your baby is ready to go home with you.

As hard as it can be, it's important to keep things as normal as possible. These tips can help:

• Pay attention to your own needs and those of the rest of your family, especially any other kids. Doing something for yourself can be as simple as taking a relaxing bath, going for a walk, or reading a favorite book.
• Make plans for a weekly family activity, and sit down together and talk about how this experience makes you feel.
• Turn to other parents whose babies are in the NICU for support. They'll know better than anyone what you're feeling. Join a support group to share your feelings, worries, and triumphs together.
• The hospital's chaplain also can give you support.

When you take care of yourself, you'll be more rested and better able to take care of and get to know your baby. While a NICU stay can be hard, it's also rewarding to watch your little one grow stronger each day.

Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD

Date reviewed: January 2019

The NICU & your baby: what to expect

The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU): what is it?

A neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is a hospital intensive care unit that specialises in looking after premature and sick newborn babies.

NICUs have specialist doctors, nurses, other professionals and equipment to care for sick and premature babies.

When babies don’t need the specialist care and equipment of the NICU anymore, they move to the special care nursery.

What a NICU looks like

The first time you go into a NICU, it can feel overwhelming.

At the entrance, you’ll see a series of taps or antibacterial hand gel dispensers. You need to wash your hands with sterilising soap for several minutes before you go in. Babies in NICUs can very easily catch infections, and proper hand-cleaning cuts the risk of this happening.

The NICU might have periods when the lights are dimmed and it’s quiet. This is because babies in the NICU can be overwhelmed by too much noise and light.

Most babies will have either a heated open cot or a covered incubator. These keep their bodies at the right temperature.

Depending on what medical support babies need in the NICU, there might be:

• ventilators to help with breathing
• machines to give measured amounts of fluids and medicines to the babies through tubes going into their veins
• monitors attached to the babies with cords to measure heart rate, breathing and the amount of oxygen in their blood
• special cooling beds to help reduce brain injury in babies who have had a difficult birth.

All of this technology and machinery keeps the babies comfortable, with as little extra handling as possible.

Other large machines are brought into the NICU when they’re needed. These might include machines to:

• take X-rays and ultrasounds
• monitor brain function
• give babies treatment under lights, or phototherapy, for jaundice.

The NICU is usually a calm place, with nurses and doctors quietly looking after the babies and other specialists coming in and out. Monitors will sound to alert the staff if a baby’s breathing or heart rate is out of the normal range.

If you know or think your baby is going to be born early, you can prepare for premature birth by asking to see the NICU. This can help it feel less strange when you visit your baby there after the birth.

NICU staff

Specialist nurses
Every baby in a NICU has an individual bedside nurse. This nurse is highly qualified, having done extra study in nursing newborn babies, on top of a nursing degree.

Your baby’s nurse will be able to tell you most things about your baby’s medical condition. The nurse will know about recent test results, changes in how your baby is being looked after, and your baby’s condition over the previous few hours. When staff shifts change, your baby’s nurse will tell the new nurse about how your baby is going and what your baby needs.

There are also managers of NICU sections and usually one nurse who is in charge of the whole NICU.

You can ask to speak to the nurses in charge.

Neonatologists
NICUs also have neonatologists. These are doctors who are specialists in newborn care, which is also called neonatal care. These doctors have first trained as paediatricians and then done further training as neonatologists.

Most NICUs have several neonatologists. One will be in charge of the whole NICU. There’s always a neonatologist on duty, and you can ask to speak to this person. Some NICUs are happy for you to be there during ward rounds and to ask questions.

Visiting staff
Laboratory, echocardiogram and X-ray technicians visit the NICU regularly. Other paediatric specialists like cardiologists, ophthalmologists, neurologists or surgeons might also visit some babies.

NICUs also have other visiting professionals to help both parents and babies, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, speech pathologists, social workers and pastoral care workers. These staff can talk with you and help you with some of the challenges of having a baby in the NICU – for example, worry and anxiety, family complications, or concerns about your baby’s development.

NICU staff often organise information sessions for parents – for example, on baby massage – or social get-togethers.

Your baby’s care in the NICU

NICUs in Australia use parts of a nursing program called Developmental Care, or Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP).

Developmental Care or NIDCAP is a way of caring for premature or sick newborn babies in hospital that focuses on your baby’s and family’s needs.

It’s often about reducing your baby’s stress during daily and medical care. It’s also about protecting your baby’s sleep by keeping noise down.

It means that the nurses will watch your baby carefully and use all their observations to get a complete picture of how your baby reacts, copes and settles. The nurses will also think about how and when they care for your baby. For example, your baby’s nurse might watch your baby for a few minutes and decide whether to wake them or let them sleep for a little longer.

The nurses might also:

• do cluster care, which might mean bathing and feeding your baby in one session
• schedule care and feeding so that they don’t need to wake your baby from a deep sleep
• do fewer vital signs checks if your baby doesn’t need them
• cut down on stimulation during feeding – for example, by feeding your baby in a quiet, shielded corner, or feeding without talking and looking at the baby
• let your baby suck something during and after feeds, or give your baby something to hold when they’re being handled
• cover or shield your baby’s eyes so that being on the treatment table is less stressful
• avoid patting, rocking and talking to your baby all at once to avoid overstimulation.

After ‘cares’, the nurse will watch your baby again to see how the handling has affected them, and whether they need extra help to resettle – for example, by being put in a different position.

Nurses will also change the environment to make sure your baby is comfortable. This might mean making sure your baby’s bed isn’t near noisy taps or sinks, cutting out telephone and radio noise, or using a water, gel or ripple mattress.

Your baby’s hospital might not use all the principles of Developmental Care, but it might use parts of this approach. Research has shown that babies nursed with the Developmental Care approach are healthier, develop faster and go home earlier. Other research suggests there’s no evidence that these babies have better long-term development or better short-term medical outcomes.

Your family and the NICU

Hospitals try to make the NICU family friendly. Different hospitals will do things a bit differently, but your hospital will have a policy to make sure that your family is looked after while your baby is in the NICU. You can ask for a copy of the hospital’s policy.

Family-centred care in the NICU is considered the best approach to care. It’s about treating you and your family with respect and working as a team with you to make decisions about your baby’s care and treatment in the NICU.

Hospitals also typically have things like comfortable chairs next to your baby, a parent room nearby for meals, tea and coffee, a room for you to stay in overnight with your baby before taking them home, and play materials and play areas for your baby’s siblings.

The NICU is a strange environment for your baby, you and your family. But it’s also your baby’s nursery, their home away from home. There are some suggestions to help you make it as much like a nursery as possible in our article on coping with the NICU.

Nevada, A4, Carnival: how to come up with a memorable nickname?

03/10/2022

Surely you at least once wondered why Valya calls himself Karnaval, Nikita calls himself Mimimizhka, and Vlad calls himself A4? How do popular bloggers come up with all these nicknames? After all, it needs to be simple, short, easy to remember, and most importantly, not like the others. TeenDaily decided to recall the stories of pseudonyms of social media stars.

Let's start with one of the most popular Russian-speaking bloggers - Vlad A4. His real name is Paper, and in his youth the guy was so shy of her that he even suggested that his parents change to a more sonorous one. However, over time, Vlad stopped complexing about this and connected his nickname A4 with his last name. You probably know that A4 is the most popular paper format, right? nine0005

Now let's talk about the new member of the XO Team, who joined the team on February 22 - Nika. The blogger spoke about her pseudonym nevaaadaa like this:

Nevada is a state in America, it has a wonderful, my favorite city, Las Vegas, which I have never been to. My name Veronica stands for "victorious" and the Nevada state slogan is "Born to Fight." When I was 14, I thought what a cool connection.

Lunakom, whose real name is Evelina Tarkhanova, came up with a nickname for herself, inspired by a famous artist. Everything happened spontaneously. The girl was “sitting” on one of the sites with the com domain and suddenly remembered the singer Luna: “Moon + com, it sounds!” Evelyn decided. nine0005

The following tiktoker has several aliases, but the most famous of them is Mimimizka. How did Nikita come up with such a nickname? This guy was helped by fans who wrote in the comments that Nikita is “very cute”.

And what does the nickname of one of the most famous tiktokers in Russia, Vali Karnaval, mean? Everything is elementary here. Karnaukhova Valentina simply put together a nickname for herself from the first parts of the surname and first name.

Eva Miller is also not so complicated. It is known that her real name is Valeeva. However, the girl could not come up with a sonorous pseudonym, so she decided to take her mother's maiden name. nine0005

Here's what we know about Diana Astaire. Initially, the girl registered in social networks under the pseudonym Alcofeel, which later changed to Diana Barbie. The latter was invented by subscribers, inspired by Dee's bright pink hair color. By the way, in the summer of 2020, Diana Dmitrieva even got a tattoo on her leg with the inscription di.barbie.

What if we add up the first letters of random words? So did Sasha Teslond1, or Sasha Popov. The guy was in London when he suddenly decided to become a blogger. The idea immediately came to mind to come up with a nickname from my favorite words: tennis + Sasha + London = Teslond. nine0005

Kristi Crime associated her nickname with her place of birth. Initially, it was called kristi.k.krimea, a reference to the Crimea. And after switching to the TikTok platform, Kristina Kosnyreva changed her pseudonym - instead of Christy Crimea, she became Christy Crime.

But Egor Ship's nickname is a bit more complicated. The guy came up with it in the following way: he extracted the word “ship” from his real name Korablin, translated it into English ship and transliterated it in Russian letters.

Text: TEENDAILY

Photo: Instagram

The meaning of the name Nika (Nikusya) for a girl, character and fate.

The female name Nika is of ancient Greek origin. It is considered an Orthodox Russian name. Formed on behalf of the ancient Greek Goddess of victory. The meaning is "victory". At one time, the name Nika was considered only a shortened form of other female names, but now it is already an independent name.

The name Nika came to us from Europe in ancient times, like many Russian names, and is popular in most European countries - in the Russian Federation, England, Greece, Ukraine and Belarus. It has a good value, excellent compatibility and an interesting history of occurrence. nine0005

Colloquial variants: Nikushka, Nikusya, Nikusha, Niki

Modern English analogues: Veronica