Led by our neonatologists, the care team in the NICU provides each patient and family with personalized care to meet their needs.

Your baby’s care in the NICU is led by neonatologists and neonatal hospitalists who are specially trained to treat premature and full-term infants and are committed to providing high quality family-centered care.

The medical team also includes resident physicians and neonatal fellows who may be closely involved in your baby’s daily care. We also believe parents are an important part of the infant’s care team and encourage all parents and caregivers to participate in discussions and hands-on care.

Other specialists in the NICU who may be involved in your baby’s care include:

Developmental specialists

Support and reinforce parental strengths, emerging parental competencies and positive parent-infant relationships by providing information and guidance on infant development, the attachment process and mediating stress in the NICU environment.

Licensed clinical social workers

Meet with every family to identify psycho-social stressors of having a baby in the NICU. They provide supportive counseling and assist families with resources. They also connect families with Ronald McDonald House, arrange parent conferences and assist with discharge planning.

Milk technicians

Prepare breast milk and special infant formulas. They also staff the breast milk depot. 

Neonatal developmental care specialists

Provide relationship-focused, individualized interactions with infants and their parents that enhance and support the infant’s emotional, social and cognitive developmental growth.

NICU lactation consultant

Provides information, support and encouragement to help mothers to successfully meet their breastfeeding goals. They specialize in the clinical management of breastfeeding and perform comprehensive lactation assessments of the mother and baby to develop and implement a personalized care plan.

NICU psychologists

Specialize in early childhood development and perinatal (or post-birth) mood and anxiety disorders and provide intervention and assessment. Areas of expertise include early childhood trauma, infant neurodevelopment during hospitalization, developmental outcomes of high-risk infants, parent-child attachment and mood and anxiety disorders in the weeks following birth.

Nurses

Provide day-to-day care and management of your baby’s treatment plan.

Nurse case manager

The main nurse assigned to your baby.

Nurse practitioners

Advanced practice nurses who care for premature and sick newborns in collaboration with the neonatologist. They assume total responsibility for their patients exercising judgment when necessary to assess, diagnose and initiate medical procedures.

Nutritionists

Closely monitor your baby, including what baby eats, when baby eats and how feeding affects the body and growth. Sometimes the baby’s body cannot process nutrients and he or she must be fed through an IV. Other times formula isn’t supplying enough of the vital nutrients the baby needs to grow stronger. A NICU nutritionist works together with doctors and nurse practitioners to ensure your baby has the nutrition needed to grow and develop.

Occupational therapists

Work with infant feeding and movement issues.

Patient care technicians

Assist in performing patient care-related activities, such as collecting vital signs and providing feedings, as determined by the nurse and care team.

Patient and family services specialist 

Serves as a liaison between the patients/families and the health care system. They help support a positive patient experience and assist families in navigating through the health care system. They are here to listen, support and help facilitate any communications and concerns families may have. 

Speech-language pathologists

Examine the infant’s mouth and throat and their ability to stay awake, alert and engaged for feedings. They also work with the baby and family to determine the best bottle, position and feeding techniques. A care plan and bedside sign will be created to make sure everyone knows the techniques that work best for the baby.