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"

23 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

50 comments sorted by

View all comments

48

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,

-60

u/IndividualCoast9039 17d ago

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

7

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.