NICU Parents

Life in the NICU can be lonely and terrifying, and is usually brought on suddenly, with no warning. It's hard to know what's normal or not normal to feel and hard to feel understood unless you find others who have been in the same situation.

This is a community for people who are parents or caretakers of premature infants or other babies with problems that land them in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). It's to share the common or uncommon problems associated with prematurity, birth defects or problems that subsequently happened to a baby due to complications in a pregnancy, and what life is like for the parents or caretakers and the children from birth to maturity. NICU graduates, supportive friends and family members of the parents or caretakers of these special babies are also more than welcome here as long as the rules of this community are followed.

If you are a new parent of a NICU baby, please check out the following entries of interest.

Having a preemie/NICU baby - The Grieving process
The NICU Survival Guide
Preemie/NICU Development: Birth to 18 months - what to watch for and think about
I can't believe they said THAT!?!?!
Other Members' NICU stay
NICU graduates, then and now and part 2!

Rules

-ALL pictures behind a cut with a description in the cut text. That way, pictures won't have to be viewed (if it's too painful) and people can kind of choose their comfort level..
If you do not know how to do a cut, click here.

-RESPECT. If you disagree with something somebody says, then let's talk about it. Do NOT resort to name-calling, bickering, etc. This is a SUPPORT group. We can find drama anywhere else on livejournal. Let's keep it out of here.

-All posts must somehow be preemie/NICU-related.(Meaning: each post should have SOMETHING to do with your preemie experience) as much as we'd love reading about your dogs or how much your husband sucks, this is a preemies/NICU community. :)

-If you are an expert and wish to be a means of support here, than there is nothing wrong with someone posting information about infant massage, early intervention, various types of therapies, equipment, baby wearing, sids or anything else related being a preemie/NICU parent here along with giving a simple link to whatever websites you may run or know about. However, posts like these must be approved ahead of time by a moderator and put behind a cut. Any posts that try to sell something or advertise to the members of this community will be marked as spam and the author will be banned.

-There is nothing wrong with promoting another community here. The community MUST be related to the preemie/NICU experience. Keep in mind that posts like these must be approved ahead of time by a moderator and put behind a cut. Any unapproved community promotion posts will be deleted, marked as spam, and the poster will be banned.


-Also, this community is a place that is to be considered free from snarking and from the various parenting and feeding debates/propaganda (attachment parenting, breastfeeing, formula feeding, ect). There are parents here of children who have medical situations that influence how they raise their children. Our jobs as parents is hard enough without criticism like this. Debate, bashing, or snarking a member here because of how they chose to take care of their child will not be tolerated and will result in a ban from the community if it persists.

Please note that the rules of this community are strictly enforced for the protection of all community members.

Preemie Related Questions

Be sure to check out our memories section for information about some common preemie related topics. Of course, you are more than welcome to ask any question. These posts in the memories are just a good reference.