NICU – Questions to Ask Doctors & Nurses

I was in the NICU every single day. Mornings and evenings. Doctors did visits in the mornings. I would try to catch them during their visit time to get a proper update. Sometimes, they had completed rounds before visiting time started. I talked to the nurses if I missed the rounds.

When I got face to face time with the doctors, I maximized the opportunity and asked every question I had.

I had a standard list of questions I asked daily:

- Weight gain/loss vs previous day

- Milk intake (frequency & amount)

- Can I touch her? Is it ok to open the windows of the incubator today?

- When can I hold her? When can I breastfeed her? I persistently asked this one every single day until I got the answer I wanted😊

- Humidity & temperature of the incubator

o less humidity meant she was coming out of the incubator soon

o temperature was regulated by the nurses until her body was able to do it itself

- HFNC status: I checked the flow and the amount of the support everyday as we had ups and downs for a while.

- Medicine status: It kept changing in the first days, then we established a routine.

I also had a list where I checked twice weekly:

- Hemoglobin levels: Test was done twice weekly.

- Magnesium levels: I checked with the team whenever they ran a test.

- Estimated time of coming out of the incubator

- Estimated time of disconnecting H2N2 breathing machine

- Are the scheduled scan requests done?

Doctors let you know their plan during the rounds. However, nurses shift every day. Sometimes, details are missed out along the way. Always better to follow up with the nurses.

Questions I asked when I had to:

- Extra ordinary situations such as blood transfusion or brain bleed: I talked about it with all doctors separately. It was new information to me and for a person with no medical background, things might sound scarier than they are. Talking to doctors, hearing the same story in different ways gave me piece of mind.

- When can I dress her? As the number of wires decreased and her body temperature got regulated, I started asking about dressing her properly. Until then, she was with diapers only as the temperature in the incubator was arranged accordingly.

Long story short, do not hesitate to ask questions. You are your baby's advocate, and advocates ask questions:)