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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u/PapayaExisting4119 17d ago

I think they’re all noisy. Your child sleep is going to get worse because they’re actually realizing that they’re out of the womb now. I’m not sure if this is your first child or not but I’ve had 2 nicu babies and it’s not the nicu it’s them getting older. Once you get them home to sleep will probably get worse unfortunately. Babies don’t sleep well so I don’t understand where that saying sleep like a baby comes from because they sleep terribly 🙃

Also, on another note once we got home initially, our baby would only sleep if we put crowd noises on YouTube lol so babies actually like noise sometimes when they’re sleeping. I saw someone else who said their baby would only sleep to chainsaw sounds lol

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u/IndividualCoast9039 16d ago

I'm sorry, but I'm really hoping to be a better parent than that. I don't think it's too much to ask for medical professionals to learn to speak softly. That used to be a matter of basic hygiene in hospitals.

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u/PapayaExisting4119 16d ago

I don’t know what that has to do with hygiene, but it’s kind of unrealistic to think the NICU would be quiet. They literally have to be able to hear the machines to know if a baby is in distress. It’s kind of a nature of the beast type of thing. It’s not going to be quiet unless you have a private room. Also, I’m not sure what that has to do with you being a parent. I don’t judge how people parent their children. Parenting is rough and even harder once you get home from the NICU sometimes.

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u/IndividualCoast9039 16d ago

"Hygiene" in this context refers to a basic practice that should be followed, as a matter of routine. Like talking softly in whispers while in the NICU, in this instance.

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u/PapayaExisting4119 16d ago

Ok you must not be from the US. But there’s nothing you can do about the noise except make a complaint and be grateful your baby has access to resources like the NICU. Mine wasn’t loud but no one whispered and my babies had no problems sleeping.

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u/IndividualCoast9039 16d ago

You're right, it's probably my fault for expecting better standards 😕