Bringing Your Baby Home from the Neonatal ICU

August 18th, 2007 by admin

Bringing Your Baby Home from the Neonatal ICU
By Laura Nathanson, M.D., FAAP,
Author of What You Don’t Know Can Kill You

Discharge From the Neonatal ICU

It’s natural to have mixed emotions when you take your baby (or babies!) home from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. You’re thrilled to have Cherub all to yourself, but struggle with doubts:  Can you really care for this fragile being? Do you really understand what that care consists of? Read the rest of this entry »

I Wanna Go Home! – When Your Child is in the Hospital

July 17th, 2007 by admin

I Wanna Go Home!
When Your Child is in the Hospital

By Laura Nathanson, M.D., FAAP,
Author of What You Don’t Know Can Kill You

When a child is admitted to the hospital, pediatricians have the same concerns that families have: make sure the child stays safe, comfortable, and as emotionally secure as possible.

In my childcare book The Portable Pediatrician, I talk about the emotional meaning of hospitalization for children of each age group from Birth to Five. (It’s in the “What If” section of each age-based chapter, along with such challenges as parental divorce, death of a pet, arrival of a new sibling, and so on.) While I still stand by that advice, there have been three big changes since then when it comes to keeping children as safe and as comfortable as possible: Read the rest of this entry »