Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

The Margaret M. and George A. Stephen Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Comer Children's Hospital is among the largest in the Midwest, with approximately 1,000 admissions every year.

Our NICU features 47 designated tertiary care beds (Level III) and 18 convalescent (Level II) beds. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) can be provided for up to three infants at a time by a special group of ECMO specialists who supplement the NICU nursing staff.

Because you, your family and your child's health care team never want to be far from your baby, we have added these amenities to the area surrounding the NICU:

• Visitor's waiting room
• Breast milk pumping rooms
• Computer facilities
• Support facilities for nursing staff
• On-call sleeping rooms

At Comer Children’s, parents are able to accompany their children throughout their stay in the NICU. In addition, the NICU is just steps from the Family Birth Center, a leading-edge facility located inside Comer Children’s. Having the NICU only a short walk from labor and delivery is a tremendous benefit to families whose babies are premature and/or have complications.

Another program that sets Comer Children’s NICU apart is our simulation center, which conducts a variety of simulations for staff, as well as training staff from other hospitals in the community.

In addition to sims that include cardiac emergencies, respiratory emergencies, and training multidisciplinary teams responding to different types of code situations, the center also has a dedicated ambulance used for transport simulations.

This ambulance is very unique, as the team is able to train others on transport, which is so important to how babies do and is very common.

Our Level 2 nursery provides specialized newborn care with extended neonatal capabilities. Our NICU staff is extensively trained to care for babies born at 30 weeks and older.

At the Ingalls Special Care Nursery, we offer advanced equipment, technology and health services for critically ill infants, including:

• Oxygen and respiratory monitoring for babies experiencing breathing difficulties
• IVs for the delivery of special medications
• Incubators and other assistance to maintain body temperature
• Feeding assistance
• Ventilator support

Our Center for Healthy Families (CHF) helps families with a newborn who needs a higher level of care after leaving the NICU by providing follow-up outpatient care.

Learn more about our Center for Healthy Families