NICU

NICU stands for newborn intensive care unit. This is a nursery in a hospital that provides around-the-clock care to sick or premature babies. It has health care providers who have special training and equipment to give your baby the best possible care. When babies are born early, have health problems, or a difficult birth they go to the hospital's NICU. There, babies get around-the-clock care from a team of experts. Most of these babies go to the NICU (NIK-yoo) within 24 hours of birth. How long they stay depends on their health condition. Some babies stay only a few hours or days; others stay weeks or months.