The best care for your baby

Having a baby admitted to the intensive care unit is an overwhelming experience. Rest assured that your precious child is in the right place, being cared for by the best, most experienced team.

In 1962, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) opened the first surgical neonatal intensive care unit in the United States. Today, this unit — which is now called the Harriet and Ronald Lassin Newborn/Infant Intensive Care Unit (N/IICU) — has 100 beds and is a Level IV NICU. This means it is able to provide the highest level of medical care for newborns and infants. We also now have a second Newborn/Infant Intensive Care Unit (N/IICU) located within our inpatient location in King of Prussia, Pa. This unit provides level 3 care for seriously ill newborns, including access to surgical subspecialties, and expands access to CHOP for critical patients in the greater Philadelphia area.

The N/IICU at our Philadelphia Campus treats more than 1,000 inpatients each year. We help children with complex conditions, including respiratory, surgical, cardiac, genetic, renal, neurological, hematological and metabolic diseases. We have cared for babies as young as 23 weeks gestation and as small as one pound at birth.

The N/IICU is a primary referral center for other neonatal intensive care units in the region. Families travel from around the country and the world for care for hyperinsulinism, severe lung disease and other conditions.

Our N/IICUs are known for their family-centered care and support for caregivers who want to provide human milk for infants with serious medical problems. Our nursing staff is involved in research and education about using human milk in high-risk infants and managing struggles with breastfeeding (also called chestfeeding or nursing).

We care for thousands. In addition to the Level IV N/IICU at our Philadelphia Campus, we care for many more medically fragile babies throughout our healthcare system. This includes the N/IICU at our King of Prussia Campus, our neonatology specialty programs, and throughout the CHOP Care Network.

Recognized for excellence

CHOP is always ranked among the best children's hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. Our neonatology program is also always ranked at the top. This is because our neonatologists are well-known, we have many nurses available to care for each patient, and we have many different kinds of specialists available.

Specialized programs

The N/IICU at Children's Hospital can help very sick babies. We are a center of excellence for the management of infants with severe chronic lung disease. Sometimes, babies come to us because their hospital can't treat their lung problems. Learn more about how our Newborn and Infant Chronic Lung Disease Program helps them.

• We have a special Neonatal Follow-Up Program that keeps track of the growth and development of babies who were born prematurely and are at high risk in the first years of their lives. The program provides information, education and support for families to help them understand and take care of their child's needs. It includes regular visits to check the child's growth, nutrition and development. It offers a variety of services like neurological examinations, developmental evaluations and referrals for specialized services. The program aims to identify any delays or concerns in a child's development and provide the necessary support.
• Our Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) program has helped more than 250 babies with serious breathing problems since it started in 1990.

Collaborating for care

Learning your unborn baby has a birth defect can turn a time of joy into a time of worry. You are not alone. Our N/IICU team works with the Richard D. Wood Jr. Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment (CFDT) at CHOP to ensure you get the answers and care you need.

The CFDT is very good at finding and treating problems in babies before they are born. They can provide surgery before a baby is born (called fetal surgery) or right after they are born. The center has a lot of experience in this and is among the best in the world.

In 2008, the Center opened the Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit. It's the first of its kind in a children's hospital for moms expecting babies with known birth defects. Here, moms, babies and families stay together for labor, birth, and after the baby is born. They can feel better knowing that the best care units and operating rooms are very close by.

More than half of the babies born in the Special Delivery Unit are cared for in the N/IICU; babies with heart issues are treated in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). The N/IICU team takes care of and uses the latest technology to help babies who need special medical care after they are born.

The doctors and nurses in the N/IICU also work with the Maternal/Fetal Medicine Program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP). This program is one of the best in the country for caring for pregnant women and delivering babies, especially in high-risk situations. We work together with the HUP team to teach and train people who will be leaders in taking care of babies and conducting medical research.

Leading research

At CHOP, doctors have done a lot to help advance the care of newborn babies. They have developed two important treatments for premature babies:

• Prenatal corticosteroids
• Pulmonary surfactant

These treatments help the babies' lungs to develop and work better. This has made a big difference in the care of premature babies.

Areas of special clinical and research expertise in our N/IICU include the management and treatment of:

• Persistent pulmonary hypertension
• Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (also known as chronic lung disease) and other severe lung disease in newborns
• Metabolic illnesses
• Hypoglycemia due to pancreatic abnormalities
• Complex birth defects
• Complex postoperative care