We offer an array of advanced equipment and sophisticated services that allows us to care for infants with complex or unusually severe problems that challenge the resources of other centers. Our specialized services include extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), assisted ventilation, therapeutic hypothermia, neonatal surgery, cardiovascular surgery, neonatal neurology and neurosurgery, and all the pediatric medical specialties of a nationally recognized children’s hospital.

Our 59-bed state-of-the-art unit features all private rooms and is located in a 12-story dedicated children’s hospital. This healing space was designed to meet the unique needs of our NICU families.

C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital is a Level IV NICU facility. This means we offer the highest degree of care for premature or critically ill newborns. Our NICU is a regional referral center for advanced neonatal therapies, such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), high-frequency ventilation and therapeutic hypothermia, or for coordination of complex care requiring multiple types of pediatric specialists only available at a children’s hospital. The NICU maintains a ratio of one nurse to two patients. Infants in the NICU receive expert care from board-certified neonatologists and pediatric subspecialists, many of whom are respected internationally as authorities on neonatal ventilatory support and other newborn therapies.

One of the unique features that distinguishes our hospital from many others is that the Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital Birth Center is located directly inside our children’s hospital facility, just one floor above the NICU.

We understand the emotional impact of having a sick newborn. Parents are welcomed and encouraged to be with their babies as much as possible in our NICU. Each member of our team is committed to family-centered care, keeping you involved in decisions about your child’s care every step of the way.

Approximately 25 percent of our patients are transported to the NICU from other hospitals for the advanced therapies available at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Transport of high-risk infants from referring hospitals is coordinated using ground ambulance, helicopter and fixed-wing newborn transport service.

Our faculty and staff are dedicated to making advances in the diagnosis, treatment and care for premature and critically ill infants. Members of our team routinely participate in and lead cutting edge clinical research to identify opportunities to improve care at newborn intensive care units across the country.

Our NICU is part of the Vermont Oxford Network, a collaboration of health care professionals dedicated to improving the quality and safety of medical care for newborns and their families. Through this collaboration, we work with other member institutions to share best practices for the care of high-risk newborns, and to identify trends in outcomes that help us identify opportunities to improve care both at our facility and others around the world. We also participate in national and international clinical research studies to evaluate promising new approaches to neonatal care. Our faculty research interests include studies to understand the causes of diseases affecting the newborn, the impact of neonatal illness and the NICU environment on sleep in the newborn, and impact of neonatal illness on parents and families.

Our participation in these research and quality collaboratives gives C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital patients access to the latest advances in newborn care.