Newborn Medicine

THE DEPARTMENT OF NEWBORN MEDICINE provides care for newborns of all gestational ages and is specially equipped to care for infants as young as 23 weeks gestational age. Our state of the art facility and equipment allows the Brigham and Women’s NICU to be the largest in Massachusetts. Our NICU is located in the same building where mothers spend their post-partum stay, just one floor above the labor and delivery suite.

Our neonatologists are nationally and internationally recognized as participants in lectures and multi-site published research studies. We perform cutting-edge research on topics such as retinopathy of prematurity, chronic lung disease, brain injury, intraventricular hemorrhage, and developmental care. Many of these studies are funded by the National Institutes of Health. At the same time, BWH neonatologists provide on-site evaluation and treatment 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, for our NICU babies. We treat babies with simple and complex prematurity; respiratory disease, including hyaline membrane disease and pneumonia; congenital malformations and genetic abnormalities; congenital and neonatal infections; neonatal neurological and metabolic disorders. We offer on-site NICU-based services such as a blood gas lab, lactation services, nutritional services, pharmaceutical services, and neonatal respiratory therapy. Our neonatologists along with an expert team of veteran nurses, many of whom possess advanced degrees in their field, dedicated social workers and care coordinating staff, nutritionists, and respiratory therapists make Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s NICU one of the best in the world. The Newborn Medicine Department also serves as a major training site for Boston’s Children’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital’s Pediatric Residency Programs. In 2001, our Director, Dr. Ringer, was named a Best of Boston Neonatologist.

We have a very close working relationship with Brigham and Women’s Center for Reproductive Medicine, Antenatal Diagnostic Center, Maternal Fetal Medicine/ High Risk OB Practice, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, Children’s Hospital, and the Newton-Wellesley Special Care Nursery. As a result of these relationships, we have become a tertiary referral center for maternal transfers of high risk pregnancies from all over New England. Our Hospital was responsible for 10,065 births in 2002. 1,242 babies had a stay in our NICU.

In addition to caring for the needs of premature and sick babies, our Well Baby Division provides comprehensive inpatient newborn care to your well newborn while he or she is in the hospital. Our staff of dedicated and experienced hospital-based pediatricians will meet you during your stay, perform routine newborn screening tests, administer required and elective vaccinations, provide a complete physical, and refer your baby for specialty care if needed. We are privileged to work with the hospital’s team of experienced post-partum nurses, lactation specialists, and parent educators. Our goal is to send you and your new baby home in the best of health, and for you to be a well-informed new parent. After your baby is discharged from the hospital, we will coordinate your baby’s ongoing healthcare with your primary physician.

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