When can we go Home?

Babies are individual people and they need to be treated as individuals. Therefore, every baby goes home on a different time. There is however, some guidelines you can use to determine when your baby is ready to go home. The principle guideline to go by is that your baby will go home on the date that she should have been born. If she goes any sooner it is a bonus! General guidelines include the following:

Your baby should be able to maintain her temperature, since you cannot keep her in an incubator at home.
She has to breast or bottle-feed every feed successfully.
She should have no apnoea spells for at least one week.
She must gain and maintain weight, about 130 gr per week.
She should not receive any more antibiotics (she can go home on vitamins) or oxygen.
You as parents should be able to take care of your baby independently.

In order to be able to properly care for your baby you will need to gain some practical skills. You will have to learn these skills from the nursing staff in the NICU or from workshops offered by a Premmie Parenting Consultant. Make sure that you feel and are competent in the following skills before you are discharged to home:

Know how and how often to feed your baby
Know how to bath your baby
Know how to soothe and calm your baby
How to test your baby's temperature and when is it a fever
Know the details regarding bowel movements, constipation and nappy rash
Know CPR for your baby
Find out when your follow-up visit is scheduled with your paediatrician as well as your baby's immunizations.

Since the discharge of a premmie from the NICU is a whole new topic it will not be discussed in this program. It is however, a very important topic and therefore you can get the information you need by going to the recommended web-links. Alternatively order our booklet on "Development in the First Year of Life". Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us.