Volunteering in the NICU (finally!!)

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Hi everyone! I posted a while back about the possibility of volunteering in the NICU. The only problem was that I would have had to transfer to another hospital (Childrens Mpls) as the hospital I was at didn't have a NICU (I was on the OB Unit).

Well... our hospital finally opened up a NICU on May 1, and I was offered a spot as a volunteer. We have pretty much the same duties as I did on the OB floor, such as folding laundry, stocking drawers, cleaning cribs, etc. But the most exciting part for me is that we are able to hold and rock the babies if the staff needs us to.

Well, you can only guess my next question.... How often do you need someone to help you out with calming down the babies?? Is it something that happens often, or should I not hold my breath? I'm so exciting to finally have patient contact because I really had limited contact before. And the NICU is where I want to be once I graduate, so this will be such a great experience for me.

I'm just curious if I'll be folding clothes all day or if I'll really have a chance to cuddle a baby??

Any insight? My take on it is that I'm going to go in, complete all the tasks that are required, and if I have the extra time, ask if there are babies that need some extra attention. If one happens to need rocking earlier... I'll be ecstatic... otherwise, I guess I'll have to ask.

Thanks for your help. I'm so excited to do this. I just can't wait until Saturday!!

Jennifer

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Specializes in Level III NICU.

Well, if they have any babies that had some kind of GI issues, your chances are good! They tend to be super cranky, and there have been times where I have begged anyone and everyone to hold a GI baby for me. Also, sometimes I need someone to hold a baby for me so I can make the bed. I wish we had volunteers to hold babies for us. We used to have an older man who came and held babies, but he was a smoker and sometimes smelled so strongly of cigarettes that we had to ask him to stop.

Good luck, I'm sure you will be much appreciated!

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Thank you so much! I'm so excited I can hardly wait until Saturday. If all goes well... maybe I'll drop out of school and become a full time volunteer! LOL (only kidding)

But it would be nice to be able to just hold babies all day. I just can't seem to get enough of them. :heartbeat

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Specializes in ICU.
Thank you so much! I'm so excited I can hardly wait until Saturday. If all goes well... maybe I'll drop out of school and become a full time volunteer! LOL (only kidding)

But it would be nice to be able to just hold babies all day. I just can't seem to get enough of them. :heartbeat

Hey there,

I had posted some time ago about the same thing and I am actually completeing the rest of my requirements for volunteering at the hospital near me. I don't know yet what I'll be doing but my dream is to work or should I say volunteer in L&D or NICU. One day I'm hopeing to collect an actual pay check but for right now, it'll do:bugeyes:.

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