Nursing care that parents may provide their infants

While their infants are hospitalized in the NICU, parents may learn to provide the following routine nursing care for their infants:

• Diapering and dressing
• Bathing
• Application of lotion
• Infant stimulation (stroking, music box, rocking)
• Temperature taking
• PO feeding
• Helping change the bed
• Burping and repositioning
• Using the bulb syringe
• Physical therapies (chest percussion, range of motion exercises)
• Taking infant out of the incubator
• Individual complex care required for discharge home
• OG or G-tube feeding
• Tracheostomy suctioning
• Medication administration
• Clean catheterization, etc.

Nurses should document all parental teaching /care on the NICU Parent Teaching sheet.