How Do I Help a Family in the NICU?

Lately I’ve been getting lots of messages from readers and they all have a common theme: how do I help my friend who just had a preemie?

First of all, in my opinion, if you’re thinking about this and reaching out for help, you are already far ahead of the game. Your friend is lucky to have you and you’ll probably do more than you think to support your friend.

In case you’re looking for specific ideas on how to help a family with a baby in the NICU, jump on over to The Huffington Post where my article on the topic has been posted. 🙂

Read: 5 Things to Say to a NICU Family

  • If your child spent time in the NICU, what are some things that helped you?
  • How have you helped a family during their NICU stay?

5 things to say to a NICU family

Author: Andrea M

Oh man, what an adventure! I went into labor unexpectedly when I was 23w3d pregnant. Jaxson was born weighing 1 lb 8 oz. A tiny little peanut, but boy was he feisty. He still is! We love it now, but we probably won't when he is a teenager. I write about our journey and all other things that come with it, including a brain tumor. We look forward to "meeting" you - come hang out with us...we're pretty cool.

6 thoughts on “How Do I Help a Family in the NICU?”

  1. Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing this! Our little girl was in the NICU for seven and a half months (the result of being six weeks premature and having kidney disease) and we felt all the things you’ve written about, only we didn’t know how to politely say them out loud. I plan to share this article with all my friends!

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      1. Andrea – She’s now 10 months old and doing well at home. We’ve still got a long road ahead of us, but we’re all so happy to be a “normal” family now. 🙂 I’m so glad I found your blog! It helps to know other moms feel and think the same things I do. I look forward to following you!

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      2. So glad you are all home together! It’s such a great feeling. I remember being EXHAUSTED when Jax came home – not the normal “new baby” kind of tired – but like a “I just fought with everything I had for months” kind of tired. My advice (not like you asked for it – ha!) – take time to take care of yourself, too. I did not do that because Jax had so many appts, medicine, etc and it really backfired on me in the long run.

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  2. For me the biggest thing was our family still being happy for us and wanting to visit. I think it could be really easy to feel uncomfortable, to not know what to say, and so avoid going to visit a baby/family while they are in the NICU. Luckily for us most of the people we were close to came anyway and it meant the world to us.

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    1. That’s great that your family was there to support you. We had family and friends visit also and that really helped to break up the days. Thanks for sharing!

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