Anonymous wrote:I stayed 14 days. What I saw was that no other parents during my stay, stayed or visited their baby. They'd show up together at discharge to take their baby home. It was strange to see that, but I also understand that the whole thing is stressful, exhausting, and traumatizing for some. Especially, for those without extra help and other children. Do what works out best for you and your family.

Do you have a partner or spouse? Were they there, or were they part of the "no other parents"?

Anonymous wrote:Stayed 8 days in a corner room in the sick mom & baby area at Inova. It was a private room with space for equipment. I was grateful my obgyn arranged for it as I had been sick for months and after C-section had to get some procedures in the room. 35 week Baby was taken after 24 hours to sleep in the billi lights..
We left together thank god.

When you say baby was taken do you mean they didn't sleep in the room?

Stayed 8 days in a corner room in the sick mom & baby area at Inova. It was a private room with space for equipment. I was grateful my obgyn arranged for it as I had been sick for months and after C-section had to get some procedures in the room. 35 week Baby was taken after 24 hours to sleep in the billi lights..
We left together thank god.

I stayed 14 days. What I saw was that no other parents during my stay, stayed or visited their baby. They'd show up together at discharge to take their baby home. It was strange to see that, but I also understand that the whole thing is stressful, exhausting, and traumatizing for some. Especially, for those without extra help and other children. Do what works out best for you and your family.

Anonymous wrote:And mom was discharged before baby, did mom stay every night, or did you trade off?

Both parents can both be there every day, but only one can stay overnight.

10 night stay for our baby. At first, the nights was me (mom) until discharged (c-section) and then dad. So it was just about an even split on nights. I was just too exhausted to stay overnight after my discharge and the nurses caring for the baby would wake me up when they came in, so sleep was rough. Sometimes they would even wake me to see if I was pumping every two hours, no matter how many ounces of breast milk was ready to go. We also had young children at home and dad was not as good about getting them going in the mornings.

I don't know how long your baby has to stay, but make sure you are getting the rest you need too.

Anonymous wrote:“But both those studies are about NICU, which is different from special care nursery.”

At our hospital both levels of care are in the same unit.

The first article linked referred to infants with a mean stay of 3 months. That is unlikely to happen in the special care nursery. So, it's possible neither study really applies, even if they are on the same unit.

“But both those studies are about NICU, which is different from special care nursery.”

At our hospital both levels of care are in the same unit.

My DS was in the special care unit for 2 weeks. He is doing well now. Overnight wasn’t an option for us because we were in an open bay. Mom staying overnight is what I would do if in a private room. Please care for yourself and get rest. This is hard. Congratulations on your new baby. Wishing your family all the best.

Anonymous wrote:“Using advanced imaging techniques, the researchers found that by the time the babies were discharged from the NICU (on average, three months after birth), infants in the private rooms showed abnormalities in the structure of the brain’s language area compared with infants who were cared for in open wards.”
https://source.washu.edu/2013/10/study-suggests-private-nicu-rooms-may-influence-preemies-development/#:~:text=To%20their%20surprise%2C%20the%20researchers,precious%20moments%20with%20the%20baby.

"Infants cared for in the SFR NICU had higher Bayley III cognitive and language scores, higher rates of human milk provision at 1 and 4 weeks, and higher human milk volume at 4 weeks. In adjusted regression models, the SFR NICU was associated with a 2.55-point increase in Bayley cognitive scores and 3.70-point increase in language scores."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002234761730166X

It doesn't look like the science is settled on this.

But both those studies are about NICU, which is different from special care nursery.

“Using advanced imaging techniques, the researchers found that by the time the babies were discharged from the NICU (on average, three months after birth), infants in the private rooms showed abnormalities in the structure of the brain’s language area compared with infants who were cared for in open wards.”
https://source.washu.edu/2013/10/study-suggests-private-nicu-rooms-may-influence-preemies-development/#:~:text=To%20their%20surprise%2C%20the%20researchers,precious%20moments%20with%20the%20baby.

As a mom, I would have stayed each night. My DH could visit during the day. I hope your baby is released soon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Open bay is better than private rooms for verbal skills later in life. If you don’t have a choice and are there for a while, chat out loud!

Do you have a study that says that?

If the baby were home, they would often be in a room with just their parents at this age.

Quoting myself.

This article:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11621733/#sec15

seems to say that the information is mixed, and the authors seem to suggest that single family rooms are better.

Anonymous wrote:Open bay is better than private rooms for verbal skills later in life. If you don’t have a choice and are there for a while, chat out loud!

Do you have a study that says that?

If the baby were home, they would often be in a room with just their parents at this age.

Open bay is better than private rooms for verbal skills later in life. If you don’t have a choice and are there for a while, chat out loud!

And mom was discharged before baby, did mom stay every night, or did you trade off?

Both parents can both be there every day, but only one can stay overnight.