Congratulations on the birth of your new baby! We are excited for you and will do all that we can to support your family. If you have other children, you may be wondering if they can visit their new brother or sister. Siblings are welcome to visit if they are healthy and are supervised by an adult. Babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit are extremely susceptible to infections (their immune systems are weak and can ‘catch’ an illness easily if a visitor is sick).

To protect your baby from being exposed, we need to limit visits by anyone who is sick or has been exposed to certain diseases. Listed below are common infections or symptoms, which will limit visiting. Visitors should not enter the NICU if they have any of the following:

• Fever Rash
  
• Strep Throat Sore Throat
  
• Cold Sore Cough, Sneezing, or runny nose
  
• Pink eye Open sores or impetigo
  
• Stomach flu (vomiting or diarrhea)

In addition, there are some diseases that may be infectious before the child gets sick. Visitors may not come into the NICU if they have been exposed to any of the following:

• Measles (exposed within the last 21 days)
• Rubella/German Measles (exposed within the last 21 days)
  
• Chicken Pox (exposed within the last month)
  
• Whooping Cough (exposed within the last 30 days)
  
• Mumps (exposed within the last 26 days)
  
• MMR Immunization (within the last 21 days)
  
• Polio Immunization (within the last 21 days)
  
• Chicken Pox Immunization (within the last 21 days)

Each time you and your child come to the NICU, we will ask you to fill out a form stating that they are not sick and have not been exposed to any of the above. If your child has been exposed to any of the above diseases or has any of the above symptoms, he or she will not by able to enter the nursery to visit. We would hate to turn your child away, so please review this list closely at home before you travel in. To protect your baby, as well as the other babies in the nursery, we ask that you share this information with all visitors. If you have any question, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thank you,
The NICU Staff