Like the set of parents we have right now, their baby is in the ICU room, lines etc , but will be a short term stay, compared to the 24 week, now 30 week tiny in the next bed space. These parents come in, are so loud..bring the 4 yr old sibling from haades, who I swear, flashed his eyes at me red, when Iasked him to sit on his behind and stop jumping and touching stuff!! Anyhow, today, my wee tiny is out for kangaroo care with her mammy, all nice and quiet, after 3 days of being unwell, and this family come in and totally spoil the quality of the cuddles for the mammy and baby who needed it so! They are an obnoxious family, gentle hints dont work, and their noisy behaviour had an effect on the really sick preemie who needed time out with her mother.
How do you guys handle such loud families...(apart from tripping up the "damien" boy, so they HAVE to leave to visit the emergency room???) (am only kidding about tripping him up btw..well, I THINK I am!)
I never feel like this about families, Ilove the kiddos that visit, but this family are so disrespectful of whats happening around them, I'm going :devil: every time they come in. Any tips on tactfulness guys????
This was completely disruptive to staff, for sure, but more importantly the other residents in the facility. I can imagine how disruptive small children and nosy parents can be in the NICU.
It really can be. Plus, having to watch small children distracts parents away from spending quality time with their own baby.
We try to decrease stim to these wee ones, but a lot of visitors to the room often affects all the babies in there and can be counterproductive.
Plus, I just cringe when parents tell their 2 yo to touch baby's sweet mouth and hands . I wouldn't trust my toddler's hands to even a healthy baby.
But, I do feel bad for the babies and their parents when the parents aren't able to spend much time at the hospital due to work/distance, etc. We have cuddlers, but they're never available at 0200 .
We usually have parents (24 hrs)/siblings (young ones has to have somebody looking after them or they can go to the play room, if they get too wild) and grand parents (timed) to visit policy. Anybody else can have a quick peak on the first day and we do enforce that, one at a time. No more than 2 people at the bedside.
Another situation that makes me go MMMrgh in a different way! Two long term babies, in the same room, one preemie and sick but getting there slowly. The other, with a rare syndrome, very very sick with a DNR. Wee one with the dnr died, and the mother of the other baby in the room never even asked if he had died. She and the other babys parents talked every day in the unit, but its as if she just didnt notice that the other baby had died. Or perhaps chose not to, for fear or something. Just a wee bit strange, parents usually ask if the other baby has gone when they have been around and witnessed what has gone on. Or is she so wrapped up in her own wee world that she just hasn't noticed that the other wee guy isn't there? Human nature, and parental bonds forged in the nICU usually lead to parents having a care what happens to other wee ones too, thats been my experience. Just this time was different.
We are all trying hard to understand this mothers total denial of interest in whats going on around her.
And shes a lovely Mother, really good person, so I would have expected her to say something.
Danissa--I think she's choosing to only deal w/what she is able to, the other thing is too painful. I'm sure she has indeed noticed the other baby is gone, and she's probably sad about it. She's just not sharing her feelings.
I don't think it's that strange, really. And we can't talk about pt A w/pt B's parents anyhow. jmho
prmenrs...Thanks for your reply. I know we cant talk about other babies, but it happens that parents ask after a death in the nicu.." did wee baby x die?" Being in such close proximity and witnessing daily goings on, if parents ask they need to be told the truth, with no extra details, just a yes or no, so they know what happened. They know we cant and wont go into details, but the loss of one of our wee ones is felt throughout the unit, and other parents are usually aware.
Can someone look out the window and tell me if they see flying pigs? We've just instituted... visiting restrictions.
Yep, folks, we are now open ONLY to parents and grandparents after 8pm. No more overtired/overstimulated 3yo siblings running up and down the hall yanking on IV tubing at midnight! I give it three days before someone starts crying anti-Family Centered Care and we go right back to totally open visits, but it was nice to hear about last night.
Just had a set of parents recently tell nsg staff (baby is healthy, normal) that their first child died in the early neonatal period...."but we were going to give him up for adoption anyway, so it didn't matter."
I was speechless and just had to walk away.
This coupled with the also-recent parent who bragged that they give their infant child soda in his bottle has made me need to pray a lot more, for the state of this world.
(am only kidding about tripping him up btw..well, I THINK I am!)
:bow:.....to you babe, someone has to take them and be good at handling them! Well done on your stamina!!!
hikernurse
1,302 Posts
It really can be. Plus, having to watch small children distracts parents away from spending quality time with their own baby.
We try to decrease stim to these wee ones, but a lot of visitors to the room often affects all the babies in there and can be counterproductive.
Plus, I just cringe when parents tell their 2 yo to touch baby's sweet mouth and hands
. I wouldn't trust my toddler's hands to even a healthy baby.
But, I do feel bad for the babies and their parents when the parents aren't able to spend much time at the hospital due to work/distance, etc. We have cuddlers, but they're never available at 0200
.