The NICU at Dayton Children’s provides expert care for medically fragile newborns, including those born prematurely (before 37 weeks gestation), babies with rare or complex medical conditions, those requiring surgery and/or other specialty care. We are the only NICU in the region to perform surgery on these infants.

If your baby is diagnosed with a medical issue prior to birth, our nurse navigator from the fetal care center will help walk you through the process of meeting with specialists before and after your baby is born.

On rare occasions, babies may need a type of care that is not available at Dayton Children’s— like open heart surgery. In this case, our team will provide a comprehensive assessment of the child’s needs, work with families to identify the best facility for care and transport the baby to that hospital. After surgery we will provide comprehensive follow up care.

Below is a partial listing of the most common conditions we see. For a more comprehensive list of fetal conditions please visit the fetal care center.

medical

blood - disorders

• Anemia
• Hyperbilirubinemia or jaundice
• Exchange transfusion
• Blood type incompatibility any bleeding and coagulation disorders
• Thrombocytopenia

complex birth defects/genetic disorders

• Chromosomal or other genetic defects

central nervous system

• Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)
• Seizures
• Head/body cooling
• Hypotonia
• Muscle disorders

gastrointestinal conditions

• Feeding intolerance
• GERD
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Choleostasis
• NEC
• Failure to Thrive

heart disease

• Patent ductus arteriosus
• Ventricular septal defect (hole in heart)
• PPHN
• Cardiac arrhythmia
• Cyanotic or Acyanotic heart defects

infectious diseases

• Meningitis (Bacterial or viral)
• Sepsis (Bacterial or viral)
• Torch Infection

metabolic and endocrine diseases

• Hypoglycemia
• Hypocalcemia
• Inborn error of metabolism
• IDM
• Hypo or Hyperthyroidism
• Adrenal dysfunction

neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS)

renal diseases

• Polycystic kidney disease
• Kidney failure (acute or chronic)
• Hydronephrosis
• Multicystic kidney
• Agenesis of kidney
• UTI

respiratory

• Aspiration pneumonia: meconium or - other
• Pulmonary hypertension
• Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS)
• Transient tachypnea
• Apnea
• Pneumothorax
• Plural effusion/ Chylothorax

surgical conditions

ENT/airway

• Upper/lower airway malacia
• Failure to extubate
• Subglottic stenosis

gastrointestinal

• Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)
• Pyloric stenosis
• Gastroschisis / Omphalocele
• Small or large intestine obstruction
• Hirschsprungs disease
• Diaphragmatic hernia
• Tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF/EA)

neurosurgical

• Hydrocephalus
• Intraventricular hemorrhage

orthopedic

• Hip dysplasia
• Fracture
• Muscular dysplasia

plastic surgery

• Clef lip/palate
• Jaw defects

urological

• Hydronephrosis
• Ambiguous genitalia
• Posterior urethral valve
• Vesicoureteric reflux
• Hypospadias

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