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Parent Top Tips

    • Did you know your baby can smell you, hear your voice and feel you touch them?
    • You can leave a piece of cloth with your smell on it in your baby’s incubator and take a piece of cloth with your baby’s scent on it with you. Being reminded of you helps to keep your baby happy.
    • Remember, every baby is an individual – every baby will follow a different path through the Newborn Care Unit.
    • Please feel free to spend as much time as you wish with your baby, and you are always welcome to listen and ask questions either on the ward rounds or at any time with your baby’s nurse/ doctors on duty.
    • Remember to take a break from the Newborn Care Unit and take time for yourself too.
    • Are friends and family wondering how they can help? Ask them to buy or make some food for you – it’s important to eat regularly and well. Staying healthy is important for you and your baby.
    • Skin-to-skin/Kangaroo care is important for your developing baby.
    • The neonatal unit has a psychology team who are here to support parents and family members. In Oxford we are supported by SSNAP, a charity Supporting Sick Newborn and their Parents. You can find the SSNAP team near the main entrance of Level 2 of the Women's Centre. Consider taking time out to have a chat with them, even if everything is going well.

You might also be interested in animations we have made for parents to explain why apnoea occurs, methods of respiratory support, and how the brain develops.