Newborn Medicine/
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Specialized Programs
The Division of Newborn Medicine offers a comprehensive range of services and programs that includes:
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
Our 50-bed NICU provides a wide range of newborn services for extremely premature neonates and newborn infants requiring medical or surgical intervention.
The Perinatal Center at Weill Cornell
This multidisciplinary center is an internationally recognized facility in fetal diagnosis, counseling, and multidisciplinary care for high risk pregnancies, and the mother and fetus/newborn. For more information, visit the Perinatal Center website.
Neonatal Neurologic Problems
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has expertise in most of the major neonatal neurologic disorders, including hypoxic-ischemic cerebral injury, periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhage, periventricular white matter injury, neonatal stroke, and neonatal seizures.
Hypothermia Protocol: The Divisions of Newborn Medicine and Child Neurology developed a practice plan to treat high-risk infants with the Cool-Cap, a device shown to reduce the extent of evolving brain injury in high-risk term infants. The Cool-Cap is designed to provide selective head cooling with mild below normal body temperature cooling in term newborns born with moderate to severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.
Seizure Detection Protocol: The NICU has been wired to provide continuous seizure detection where indicated that can be reviewed immediately by a neurologist with specific expertise in neonatal EEG’s and the detection of seizures. This has greatly advanced our understanding and management of seizures in infants.
Developmental Follow-Up Program
Neurodevelopmental and nutritional progress are evaluated by neonatal attendings, fellows, physical and occupational therapists and a neonatal nutritionist for infants at risk during the first three years of life.
At the time of discharge from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, infants receive an appointment for the Developmental Follow-up Program. Detailed evaluations are performed at the approximate ages of 2, 6, 12, 18 months, 2 and 3 years. These visits include evaluation of the patient's growth, nutrition, and neurodevelopment. If a delay is suspected, the patient is referred for even more extensive evaluation and therapy through the Child Development Division’s Early Intervention Program.
Resuscitation Program
We have a neonatologist assigned full time to the delivery room whose role is to closely monitor the resuscitation team with regard to specific practices, including optimizing the delivery of supplemental oxygen, temperature regulation, etc. The resuscitation program is closely related to our active simulation program.
Simulation Program in Newborn Medicine
The Division of Newborn Medicine offers an active simulation program where all residents, fellows, faculty, and nurses are trained and recredentialed in the delivery room management of infants. Such simulations improve the delivery of care for our patients, and provide our health care team with a way to practice techniques. Simulations are undertaken in a designated delivery room off labor and delivery, as well as in a designated operating room.
Neonatal Nutrition Program
Specialized nutrition services for infants and toddlers are provided during the infant's hospitalization in the NICU and through the Developmental Follow-up Program. Individualized feeding plans are designed to promote optimal nutrition and growth for children in the NICU and beyond.
Infants and toddlers with failure-to-thrive and other manifestations of poor growth care are carefully followed. Parents are counseled in providing a balanced diet with special consideration to picky eaters, children with feeding tubes, infants with bone mineralization deficiencies and other children with medical, physical and behavioral difficulties that influence their food intake.
Breastfeeding Instruction
Breastfeeding is encouraged for all infants unless otherwise indicated. Members of our newborn nursery staff are available to assist with breastfeeding skills. Breastfeeding classes led by a certified lactation consultant are given daily from Sunday to Friday to all interested mothers. Infant care and parenting skills are emphasized throughout the Hospital stay for mother and infant. Experienced pediatricians and nursing staff are available 24 hours a day to teach mothers and their partners about caring for themselves and their infants. Each parent receives a booklet with information about infant and post-partum care upon admission. In addition, infant care educational classes for parents are held daily from Sunday through Friday.
Newborn Security
Newborn security is of utmost importance to the nursery staff at the Komansky Center for Children’s Health. Mothers and their partners are given identification bracelets that match their infant’s bracelet. In addition, a security transmitter is placed on the infant at the time of admission and remains in place until discharge.
