Noisy NICUs

[aris99]

Anyone read about this? My dd was at the end of an aisle in the NICU for over a month. There was a Drs station there and a LOT of traffic. When my dd came home though she passed the hearing test in the hospital she did not respond at all to sound. She was seen by neurologists and ENT's but everything looked ok. Eventually after about 4 mos she began reacting to sound but sometimes I wonder if her none reaction to sound was due to the NOISE in the NICU?!


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23835342/

[Bunnybee]

I saw that article too. My DD always wanted to be around noise the first few months when she came home. It seemed like she always slept better with lights and some kind of noise! I bet your DD's reaction (non reaction) had to do with the noise. I think that invention is a good idea.

[tbavrbab]

My daughter used to do this! We could bang pots and pans behind her head and she wouldn't respond. Her hearing screen came back with unusual response (lacking for sound, present for speech), her ABR was normal, her EEG was abnormal.

She responds well to sound now, but still doesn't seem to understand speech well. She's much more responsive to sign.

She was on the end of a row, by a desk, next to the door that the doctors and nurses used.

Since she has started getting steadily better, I also wonder if it might have been something related to her being early, the NICU, something. My daughter was a 33 weeker and only spent 8 days in the NICU (in that location the whole time). In all fairness, though that was a "noisy" section of the NICU, in comparison the whole NICU was fairly quiet.

Originally Posted by aris99

My dd was at the end of an aisle in the NICU for over a month. There was a Drs station there and a LOT of traffic. When my dd came home though she passed the hearing test in the hospital she did not respond at all to sound. She was seen by neurologists and ENT's but everything looked ok. Eventually after about 4 mos she began reacting to sound but sometimes I wonder if her none reaction to sound was due to the NOISE in the NICU?!

[Le Bec]

We just had our 12 month hearing appointment. They asked me if E would startle if they were to slam a door and I said "no". It's not that she's deaf (she passed the test with flying colours) it's just that loud, sudden noises don't seem to frighten her and yeah, she does seem to ignore noise and talking a lot. I have to call her name multiple times to get her to respond to me every time. She never responds to me straight away.

[uccellina]

Ha! A PR person from the Sonicu company e-mailed me about this product - I assume after reading my blog. I totally thought it was spam.

[swissgirl]

Our 26 weeks early preemie spend 7 weeks in a Level III NICU which always had hustle and bustle. She had no trouble sleeping through noise and we always wondered if the chaos of the NICU contributed to that.

She also spent 5 weeks in a Level I NICU and we, as parents, were initially unnerved by the quiet, lack of urgency and lack of medical machine clutter in that NICU vs. the higher level NICU. We of course realized the Level I NICU contained "healthier" babies but we actually preferred the Level III with the nurses rushing around and reacting to everything quicker and more urgently. Weird.

I'm about to deliver a second (full-term this time) baby this week and will deliver at a hospital that just opened a NICU with private suites for each baby to reduce noise, lights, and increase privacy. That is the new trend in the lower level NICUS. Don't know about the higher-level NICUs though, if that paradigm works as well for the babies care.

[Khourtniey]

That happens a lot.. Babies fail the hearing tests because they are used to the NICU noises and just kind of block it out so to speak. Also why some babies like for the noise to continue when they go home.

[veganone]

OT, but Swissgirl, I wanted to say congratulations and I'm so happy to see a preemie momma having a 2nd one as a FT babe! I'm so scared of going early again, it's nice to see that it's not always the case!

On-topic - DD only spend 1 night in the NICU, but I think this sounds like a really great invention.

[Jilian]

Our CVICU had the new beds that were supposed to dramatically reduce noise. I'm not sure if they worked or not, but DS2 seemed to sleep peacefully in his when it was closed. He rarely slept with it open. His stay was pretty short (10 days) but he is still somewhat noise sensitive.

[mom4peace]

Originally Posted by swissgirl

I'm about to deliver a second (full-term this time) baby this week and will deliver at a hospital that just opened a NICU with private suites for each baby to reduce noise, lights, and increase privacy. That is the new trend in the lower level NICUS. Don't know about the higher-level NICUs though, if that paradigm works as well for the babies care.

Private suites would be wonderful. I was fortunate enough to stay in a back room when ds was in NICU and they put him back with after day 3. I loved it.It was A LOT quieter.

Congratulations on your full term baby!

[swissgirl]

Originally Posted by veganone

OT, but Swissgirl, I wanted to say congratulations and I'm so happy to see a preemie momma having a 2nd one as a FT babe! I'm so scared of going early again, it's nice to see that it's not always the case!

On-topic - DD only spend 1 night in the NICU, but I think this sounds like a really great invention.

The key to a full-termer this time - a cerclage and 3 months of bed rest. Otherwise, our new son would most likely have arrived early. Didn't get the chance to see the new and improved private suite NICU - I have to admit, I was curious to see the remodel of the place we spent so much time after
DD1's birth.

[momtoafireteam]

My DD3 was in a private sound proof suite in her NICU, all the beds were in them, there was no open ward. With the door closed you could hear nothing. And it was in a designed in a circle around the nurses station, so not too much traffic since the staff just popped in and out of the room they needed to.

[Amys1st]

Funny, Maggie has trouble with loud noises. The surprise stops her in her tracks and she runs and hides my lap. Sometimes shaking. IT could even be as little as me calling dh or dd upstairs for something.

My older brother ( another nicu grad and 30 weeker) also has the same issues.

[ernalala]

Originally Posted by swissgirl

The key to a full-termer this time - a cerclage and 3 months of bed rest. Otherwise, our new son would most likely have arrived early. Didn't get the chance to see the new and improved private suite NICU - I have to admit, I was curious to see the remodel of the place we spent so much time after
DD1's birth.

Bit off-topic.
The reason for my DS1's early birth (34-3w) was not fully determined. I had an alleged kidney crisis at 31,3w (I am pretty sure of it!) and birthing contractions started and wouldn't give up even under anti-contraction meds.

For my second, we expected a possible early labour again so after 5m pregnant I started to be REALLY careful and not do much anymore except toddler care, and rest as much as I could with my demanding toddler around and no-one else to help out in daytime. I got as inactive as I possibly could, just to exclude an added risk for a repeat. When I reached the 31w and the 34w milestones I felt more relieved again. I also got the shots for the lungs for this one. At 37 weeks I could be 'free' and do whatever I wanted. 10 days later we finally went shopping (I'd been soooo bored!), the next day I would deliver at 38,5w.
I now believe that the first premie was an 'accident' and probably wouldn't have been repeated. But there is either a possible, real or definite risk for repetition so you try whatever necessary to minimize risk.

As for the NOISY NICU. Both my babies have been hospitalized after birth. When I think of it, DS1 was in an always busy room most of the time full with 7-8 babies for 10 days and 2 more days in hospital with me rooming in, and environment was noisy. When he was a small baby he could sleep through many sounds, could even attend a noisy wedding at 8m and sleep through it most of the time :-). DS2 stayed in NICU for 8 days. At the time there were never more than him and another baby, or it was just him alone. So it was real QUIET there. And HE hasn't been so great with noise, would wake from us tiptoeing in the nearby room.

[Rachel J.]

I wish they'd had that device in ds's NICU. One night in particular a very loud dad was there and happened to be friends with a very loud nurse. The two of them were laughing and talking back and forth over several incubators. All the babies became really restless (except the dad's son who never flinched) and some started crying. I put a sound machine in ds's incubator to try to drown out some of the beeping and noise. He still wakes easily so we make sure there's background noise.

[ollineeba]

I always thought the NICU was way too noisy.. it makes so much sense that they would need quiet to be able to rest and heal.
dd actually has trouble with noise.. she startles very easily and won't sleep if there is a lot going on. She naps so well when the older kids are in the other end of the house or out somewhere.
She was only in the NICU for a week, though, maybe it would be different if it had been longer.

[mauimama5]

My brother and his wife have a baby in the NICU right now. My brother took some video of the baby and the noise level in the background is appaling. I mean how do they expect these little babes to get rest and grow...?

[aris99]

My daughter reacts w/fear when she hears cars and trucks whizzing by on the road. She HATES mechanical noises. However, she is very LOUD! And oddly enough she seems unaffected by her siblings when they are screaming which is usually about 95% of the time. Her siblings are also quite sensitive to mechanical noises but this is waning....I was beginning to think auditory sensitivity/sensory issues might just run in the family. Maybe it's a combo of genetic and NICU experience.

[felix23]

I was really lucky that the NICU that my dd was in was all private rooms. They kept it really, really quiet and dark and when Lilly came home it took her forever to adjust to noise and lighter rooms.

[mauimama5]

I was a preemie myself. I have been wondering a lot of late how that has affected who I am, kwim? I was in the NICU the first 6 weeks of my life. I was a very quiet child. I have always enjoyed stillness. Certain types of noise really bother me. However I can fuction with a certain level of background noise.


Go figure I went and had 6 kids, lol.

But I do wonder....especially now that I have a nephew in the NICU.

I wonder if anyone has done a study on this?