When it comes to newborn care after birth, we are dedicated to supporting a family centered environment and mother-baby bonding experience.
When you are moved to the Mother Baby Unit, also known as Postpartum Unit (PPU), your baby will go with you. With the exception of those who require specialized care, all newborns room with their mothers for Couplet Care. Nurses who are specially trained in the care of newborns will tend to your baby in your room while your own nurse is caring for you.
As a Texas Ten Step designated hospital, we encourage you to keep your baby in your room day and night to help you breastfeed more successfully and to feel more confident when you take your baby home. Keeping your baby in your room is best for the whole family.
- Babies
- Cry less and are easier to calm
- Gain weight more quickly
- Spend more time in quiet sleep
- Moms
- Get more rest and sleep better
- Breast milk comes in faster and production increases
- It's easier to learn to breastfeed because cues are noticed sooner
- Parents
- Improves bonding between baby and parents
- Parents learn how to care for and sooth their baby
Newborn Intensive Care
We are among a select number of hospitals in Texas that provide the highest level of care available for newborns that are premature, critically ill, or have a life threatening health condition. You will find two levels of care within the NICU: the advanced NICU for the sickest babies and the intermediate NICU for less intense care. A team of highly specialized and experienced staff cares for babies, including an in-house, board-certified Neonatologist (physician specializing in the care of newborns) and Neonatal Nurse Practitioners who are on site at all times and available 24/7 to care for your baby.
Staying in the NICU
We offer the experienced care and advanced technology your baby needs, as well as the emotional support and education you need to care for your infant. During your child's stay in the NICU, we invite you to visit as much as possible – to hold, touch, talk to, and care for your baby as his or her condition allows.
Specialized Newborn Baby Care and Support
When observation, specialized care, and additional support is needed, we have the capabilities and services to ensure newborns get what they need until they are ready to go home.
Our Multiples Clinic is a family-centered environment where proven practices in maternal-fetal medicine give multiple births' parents and children the specialized care they require after birth, including lactation support for breastfeeding multiples.
In addition to our trained nursing staff, our breastfeeding support services includes International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) are available to assist you with breastfeeding 7 days a week. They are available to discuss beneficial techniques and to help you through those first few breastfeeding sessions. Breastfeeding programs are available on the interactive TV in patient rooms. We also offer a free online breastfeeding course as well as a live course taught by our breastfeeding educators.
The Woman’s Hospital of Texas has many systems in place to ensure a secure environment for you and your newborn. "Code Pink" is our infant security system. After birth, a sensor is attached to your baby's umbilical stump, and it can only be removed by approved staff members. The sensor alerts us to any unauthorized movement of your child. Color-coded uniforms provide an additional safety measure that lets us know which staff members have permission to transport infants.
In addition, we offer our Photo-All-Baby Program as recommended by the Center for Missing and Exploited Children in which every newborn’s photo is taken and stored. Your participation is vital to the security of your newborn. This is in addition to the security photo taken of your baby once you arrive in the PPU.
We offer photo packages to new families through Mom365, a professional photography service that will come to your suite for a complimentary portrait session. You will be able to view and order your portraits right from your suite, just minutes after they are taken. The free Baby Portrait Page lets family and friends “meet the baby” online.
We know babies don’t come with guidebooks, so even after delivery we will continue to be here for you with through infant care classes classes and parenting support groups. From life with baby to the emotional challenges related to new motherhood, our Patient Education Department provides resources for you and your new addition.