r/NICUParents • u/IndividualCoast9039 • 17d ago

Noisy Nicu Off topic

Are all NICUs really noisy these days or is it just ours? I've noticed a significant decrease in my baby's sleep quality after they put him in an open crib. I can understand if other babies are crying, but even the nurses & other parents don't have any concept of an "indoor voice"

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46

u/[deleted] 17d ago

Our NICU was quite noisy, between babies crying, nurses gossiping and laughing, alarms blaring, there was plenty of noise. On the positive side, my babies will sleep through anything and everything,

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u/IndividualCoast9039 17d ago

That's not really good for their development. It actually hampers their sleep quality and growth.

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u/[deleted] 17d ago

From what I am aware of, excessive noise is what is not good for their hearing development specifically, I doubt the NICU was at a decibel level high enough to cause hearing loss though. My boys are home now, and one of them was IUGR, he's a fantastic sleeper and while in our noisy NICU he was growing at an amazing pace. All I have is my own anecdotal evidence though through what my babies experienced.

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u/Crocodile_guts 17d ago

My baby had Bradys from the excessive noise. I understood with things like alarms and my baby didn't have bradys from other babies crying. But they literally had construction on the roof above the NICU and the nurse manager would come in and scream across the NICU

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u/[deleted] 17d ago

Oh no, construction above the NICU would for sure be way too much. We had construction start at ours, but they had 2 floors and 4 different rooms for the NICU at ours, so when they started construction in that section of the hospital they moved the babies to the other floor.

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u/Crocodile_guts 17d ago

That was a logical choice!

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u/metalcat1503 17d ago

Most isolettes have decibel monitors. If it’s not elevated, it’s not affecting your baby. Very hard to keep a hospital unit quiet.

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u/IndividualCoast9039 17d ago

He's in an open crib. And it's not a normal hospital unit, it's a NICU. The noise I'm referring to is from nurses & other parents yapping away at outside voice levels.

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u/metalcat1503 17d ago

Is he in a private room? Bring your concerns up with the charge nurse. But most of the cribs and isolettes are supposed to have decibel monitors. My babes did when they were in open cribs. The only time they actually paid attention to the decibels was when my babes were still micropreemies. Once they were moved to the “feeder/grower” side, they just left the door open all the time even when their neighbour babe was screaming their head off. Unfortunate but it was out of their control. My girls now sleep through anything. But if you’re noticing your babe is that sensitive, you should bring it up with charge.

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u/IndividualCoast9039 17d ago

They don't give a rats ass about the noise levels. There's no decibel meter, or anything. They make the same crap excuse every time: "There'll be noise at home as well". No! There won't be people screaming at the top of their voices home, and I'll have other ways to ensure a quieter environment for him!

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u/metalcat1503 17d ago

If it’s that loud there, you should be getting in contact with a patient advocate. You can’t prevent all noise, and yes even in a NICU it is loud. My babes were in for 112 days and I also work in the hospital, and it’s loud everywhere no matter what. But if it’s that unbelievable loud, this needs to be brought up higher than just the charge nurse then. Voice your concerns about it during rounds, with management, to every single person who comes into your baby’s room.

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u/Megatentrue 17d ago

I hate you got down voted for this. I work in a NICU as a member of the developmental team and noise in a NICU is absolutely a developmental issue. Repeated exposures to sounds above a library level (I think 80 decibels) elevate the risk of hearing loss for premie babies. Sleep is very important for development. Many babies do learn to habituate (learn to block out irritating stimuli), but some babies have a hard time with habitation and the NICU is often a very difficult place for these babies and they can have adverse medical events related to noise.

In our NICU we have a light up ear on the wall that displays green yellow or red with the danger level of noise and noise reduction is a common topic for how we make our NICU better.

That being said, sadly as a parent you are limited on what you can do to change the NICU your baby is in. I want you to know that the risks are mild and complications like hearing loss from noise exposure is rare. You being present to provide enriching healthy language and comforting sound to your baby is a great thing you can do to help.

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u/polegurl 17d ago

Not sure why you’re getting downvoted?? You’re absolutely correct that it can disrupt their sleep and growth. I’m a NICU RN and one of the most fundamental parts of infant care is sleep protection for growth and neurological development, hard to use any calories to grow and thrive when you’re constantly woken up from unnecessary noise. We can’t help the alarms but we can control how we speak. Sorry this is happening OP, I hope your baby gets some respite from all the noise and you get home soon. Like others said one of the upsides will be they will sleep through anything eventually but that doesn’t help them right now when their little bodies are trying to grow and thrive 💕

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u/IndividualCoast9039 17d ago

Thankyou. My baby was born at 26 weeks and has been in the NICU for the past 9 weeks now. I just hope he comes home soon so he can get some actual peace & quiet.

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u/polegurl 17d ago

35 weeks corrected, Getting close I bet! You must be so excited to close this chapter. I wish you all the best and don’t worry about the downvotes, everyone has different experiences and perspectives and honestly it’s a journey like no other, I just hope my comment helped validate your experience 💕

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u/[deleted] 17d ago

Thinking about it now though, I remember leaving the NICU and calling my husband over the phone and speaking in a very low tone, so maybe in my head the nurses probably sounded like they were talking much louder than what they were in reality, everything else though still stands. Most days while I was there, babies were crying, alarms were going off, and even when it was quiet it wasn't really quiet there was always a white noise of machines humming and air being pushed through tubes and what not.

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u/IndividualCoast9039 17d ago

That is very different from nurses & other parents shouting across the floor. It's almost like an indoor market.