Lordy...6 admits in 5 hours....

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

And 5 of them methadone/heroin kids :( 2 from nursery that had scores off the Richter scale!!! These poor babies :( It is especially bad because we are in pods with 6 kids and these poor off the wall kids scream and scream and out little micros start to desat :( And the OB director said he is following 15 more set to deliver in the next 4 months. Sigh. We need a floor or something for these poor souls, soon our unit is going to be full of withdrawal kids. With these 5 it brings our total to 10...and none of them are good :(

I just had to vent, it is so hard and tiring to take care of these babies, especially when you have 2 other kids and the cuddles are few and in between...or just not enough to go around! Just feeling sad for these kids and overwhelmed!

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

Holy cow! Not a good thing to deal w/or look forward to. I hope you can figure out a way to separate the little guys from the screamers.

Do you have a pain service? Sometimes it is under anesthesia. Might be a good idea to get a game plan in place, so that this influx is less traumatic than it could otherwise be. Recruiting some extra cuddlers? High schools sometimes have community service requirements before students can graduate.

Swings help some babies, some respond to lullabyes. We used to have CDs entitled "Baby Go to Sleep".

I certainly wish you the best w/this challenge!

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

Our cuddles have to be over 18....believe me, I'd have my DD and her friends in there! Our census has been running high also. They just had a huge round table about this, they came up with new guidelines, etc. Our pain management team won't touch it. We asked and they said not in their scope. And outlying hospitals won't keep them if they go on morphine...what!!! We have two kids on triple meds...morphine, clonodine and phenobarbital. No one wants to stay over to work anymore because you can only take so much!

It is sadly like an epidemic. And the moms are bad too....

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

We use methadone/ ativan wean. Each is given Q6H alternating so the poor kids get something every three hours. There is actually a hospital that is part of the UTennessee system (I think) that DOES have a special ward just for neonatal abstinence. And it's packed all the time.

You know who is perfect for volunteers for these kids? Deaf people- the crying does not affect them. (And no, I am not joking!)

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

Some of our volunteers are almost deaf lol . We NAS every three hours and meds are given every three. Se of these poor kids nervous systems are so jacked up...it is so sad :( And I can't imagine working in a whole unit of these poor kids!!! We have sent a few to peds but only at the end of their wean.

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Specializes in Going to Peds!.
Some of our volunteers are almost deaf lol . We NAS every three hours and meds are given every three. Se of these poor kids nervous systems are so jacked up...it is so sad :( And I can't imagine working in a whole unit of these poor kids!!! We have sent a few to peds but only at the end of their wean.

If they have no other problems, they do get sent to us (peds) at my facility. Usually when the special care nursery is overflowing. We'll get kiddos that still need phototherapy or drug withdrawal.

Sent from my HTC One X using allnurses.com

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I think those are the hardest kids to take care of. Sometimes nothing you do comforts them. We usually use methadone and or morphine to wean.

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