Empowering NICU Parents: Recent Episodes
Nicole Nyberg
Is your baby currently in the NICU? Was your baby born prematurely? Or is your term baby in the NICU for high jaundice levels, low blood sugars, or because they have some Respiratory Distress and need oxygen or additional support?
Are you wondering what in the heck is a small baby unit or kangaroo care? Why do NICUs use donor breast milk and what on earth does RDS, BPD, IVH, NEC, ETT, CPAP, HFNC, UVC, UAC, po, ng, ABG, CBG, CBC, and CMP stand for? Are you asking yourself how will we ever get through this, what questions should I even ask, and when will my baby come home?
If you are a NICU parent who is scared, nervous, unsure, and full of questions, then hit the subscribe button so you do not miss another show!
Welcome to the "Empowering NICU Parents Podcast" where we answer ALL of these questions and SO MUCH more! Your host, Nicole Nyberg is a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner with years of NICU experience - but she also brings her unique perspective to this podcast as a mother of a 23-weeker.
Along with sharing answers to the NICU medical questions you have, Nicole addresses and supports you through the incredibly difficult emotional struggles that only a NICU parent can understand.
She provides you with knowledge plus tangible tips to guide, educate, empower, and support you through your baby's NICU journey and once they are home. Tune in to hear from someone who knows exactly what you're going through, another NICU Mama.
For our 51st podcast episode, I discussed a contensious topic in the neonatal world, Gastroesophageal Reflux (GER) and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). Although it is a common occurrence amongst all infants, the lack of updated, clear, and...
To celebrate our 50th podcast episode, we wanted to honor and hear from our NICU heroes, the NICU graduates. You will hear from several NICU graduates with ages ranging from 5 years old, up to 36 years old. I was honored to be able to sit down with...
For the 49th episode on the Empowering NICU Parents’ Podcast, I discuss necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). It is a life-threatening condition that involves ischemia and inflammation of the bowel. Necrotizing Enterocolitis is a complex disease that...
Maternal human milk is the absolute best food for newborn nutrition that supports all of their accelerated growth in the first year. And although we have a basic understanding of the composition of human milk, every woman’s breast milk has a different...
For our 47th podcast episode, I review some of the general benefits of maternal breast milk and why it is so important for all infants, but especially those who are critically ill and in the NICU, to receive maternal milk. Human milk, often referred...
Infants in the NICU, especially those born prematurely, encounter the challenge of effective bottle feeding and/or nursing due to their maturational development. Recently, to support their development, there has been a shift in the paradigm to move...
For infants in the NICU, especially those born prematurely, breast or bottle feeding effectively can oftentimes be a challenge. Maturational and developmental issues impact a premature infant’s ability to adequately coordinate their sucking,...
For our most recent episode, I continued to summarize the updated recommendations for care of the preterm and low birthweight infant from the World Health Organization (WHO) that were just released on November 15, 2022. The World Health Organization...
Do you often wonder what helps to guide care and policies in healthcare? Guidelines for medical care are driven by research and what the evidence has shown, otherwise known as evidence-based practice. And there are organizations, like the World Health...
On November 15, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) released some updated recommendations for care of the preterm or low birthweight infant. New up-to-date evidence has emerged regarding the most effective clinical interventions in caring for...
As a NICU parent, one of the most difficult pieces of the journey is the physical separation that parents have to endure initially and each day that follows. Every time parents walk out of those NICU doors to go home without their baby is devastating....
There are many terms and acronyms commonly used in neonatology that most people are not familiar with. Even medical clinicians who are not familiar with the NICU, are unlikely to know about UACs or UVCs. And most NICU parents probably did not know...
It is likely that you’ve heard about a child who has had RSV, or Respiratory Syncytial Virus from a friend, a family member, or perhaps you’ve even had your own personal experience with it. But, you may not realize how common it actually is! Did you...
For this podcast, I continued my conversation with Jessica Wolff. We discussed what their life was like once they brought Lily home. She explains how they adjusted to caring for Lily with her tracheostomy along with the necessary life-saving equipment...
For our most recent podcast episode, I sat down with Jessica Wolff, a mother who has endured loss and 2 very different NICU journeys. For part one of this podcast, she shares personal details on her very complicated twin pregnancy and the difficult...
Infants in the NICU are patients that require specialized care with unique clinical considerations. Specific recommendations must be considered for all systems of NICU patients and the skin is not any different. Infants who are being cared for in the...
Infants in the NICU are patients that require specialized care with unique clinical considerations. Specific recommendations must be considered for all systems of NICU patients and the skin is not any different. Infants who are being cared for in the...
Our skin is an incredibly important, multifunctional organ. It has many different functions including helping us maintain our body temperature, it assists with the excretion of water and toxins, and most importantly, protective mechanism of acting as...
For our 33rd podcast episode, I review the recommendations for screening and managing hyperbilirubinemia. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends universal screening of bilirubin levels in newborns, so I review how that can be done, when it...
It is likely that you have heard the terms jaundiced and/or bilirubin. And although it is very common for infants to develop elevated bilirubin levels otherwise known as hyperbilirubinemia, do you actually know or understand why?
As a NICU...
For this podcast episode, I was very honored to be joined by Ms. Mary Coughlin. Mary is a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, but also a published author of several pieces of work. She is well-known in the neonatal world for her development of the core...
For this podcast episode, we review some recent research studies that not only show the importance of frequent skin-to-skin care, but how it correlates with a more synchronous relationship between the infant and parents, promotes parental attachment,...
For our 29th Podcast episode and to close out HIE Awareness month, I sat down with Brigid Janousek. She bravely shares the story of her son William's traumatic delivery and his subsequent treatment with therapeutic hypothermia due to his diagnosis of...
If you are a NICU Parent who either currently has a baby in the NICU, or a NICU graduate, this episode is for you! I recently presented at a NICU Leadership conference and spoke on the parental stressors common to NICU Parents and the trauma and PTSD...