Preparing for Discharge home
Discharge home
Discharge home will be when a baby is feeding well and gaining weight. If your baby was premature, your discharge date will be around the time that he/she was originally expected to be born. The length of time a baby stays on the Neonatal Unit can vary according to their condition.
Preparing for the discharge of your baby from the Neonatal Unit
can be a very daunting for any new parents. The nursing staff in
the nursery are there to listen to you and your concerns and will
help you prepare for this event.
Nursing staff working in the nursery will give you an approximate
date and they will help to prepare you and your baby for discharge.
Advice and teaching is given on various aspects of caring for your baby including:
-
Caring and handling of your baby
-
Preparing your home for your baby
-
Bathing
-
Making of feeds
-
Feeding
-
Sleeping position
-
Medications
-
Illness
-
Temperature
-
Immunisation
-
Resuscitation
There are two parents rooms (with ensuite facilities) located on the unit, to enable parents to stay with their baby at periods through the day or overnight prior to discharge.
All discharge advice and education is planned with the family and
given on an individual basis.
Before your baby is discharged, you will be visited by a member
of the Community Neonatal Team and once your baby is at home she
will visit you regularly checking on your baby's progress until
you feel settled. A Health Visitor working from your local Health
Centre or GP surgery will then take over your care.
Neonatal Screening
Any baby who is born below 32 week's gestation and or under 1500g is considered at risk of retinopathy of prematurity (damage to the retina of the eye).
Screening of all at risk premature babies is performed in the Eye Clinic, based on the Neonatal Unit. Consultant Ophthalmologist David Clark, based at Walton Hospital, Liverpool attends the Neonatal Unit once per week to screen or perform laser or cryosurgery when treatment is necessary.
|
Clinic |
Day |
Times |
|
|
||
|
Mr Clark |
Monday |
08.30 - 13.00 |
|
Eye screening is also performed at Aintree Centre for Women's Health, Aintree, Liverpool.
Hearing Screening Hearing tests are performed on all babies who have stayed on the Neonatal Unit for more than 72 hours.
An Audiologist based at Alder Hey Children's Hospital attends the Neonatal Unit , three times a week, to perform hearing tests.
Hearing screening is also performed at Aintree Centre for Women's Health, Aintree, Liverpool. |
|||||||||||||||