Special Care Nursery

About This Program

We provide services for newborns who require close monitoring in a 6-bed inpatient unit. Parents are encouraged to stay and care for their babies.

Special Care Nursery pamphlet

Services

Visiting: IMPORTANT

  • Children under the age of 16 are not permitted onto the unit unless they are the sibling of the new baby AND are up-to-date with their vaccinations.
  • Visitors shouldnot come if they are sick as we have many infants in our care that are high risk for infection with undeveloped immune systems

The length of stay in the Special Care Nursery (SCN) is different for each baby.  You baby's length of stay will depend on the symptoms he or she may be having.

Your baby has a nurse during the day and one during the night. If you are out of the hospital and want to ask about your baby, you can call the SCN and speak to your baby's nurse at any time.  When you call, a nurse will ask for the 4 digit patient privacy code that you chose. 

Members of your health care team are available to talk to you every day about your baby's progress and answer any questions you have.

 

What I Need to Know

Baby Sleeping

  • Health Canada and the Canadian Paediatric Society recommend that babies be placed on their backs to sleep.  "Back to Sleep" is the safest sleep position for your baby.
  • Sometimes, babies in the SCN are placed in other sleep positions such as on their sides or tummies.  This may be for several reasons, such as prematurity or breathing problems.  If a baby is placed in different sleep positions, he or she is always connected to a montior so nurses can watch hear rate and breathing very closely.
  • Your nurse will talk to you about your baby's sleep positions.  When your baby is getting ready to be discharged home, we will begin to place baby on his or her back to sleep.  By doing this, your baby can get used to sleeping this way before going home.

Resources

Cue Based Feeding  7-2509-211-wc-c4-cc-r-10-2016-rev-10-od.pdf