Hospital redesigns neonatal unit to mimic womb

BEND, Ore. — Most of the country’s neonatal intensive care units look pretty much the same: Premature babies and other sickly infants are kept together in a large, brightly-lit room, where nurses and family members bustle in and out constantly.

But the new NICU at St. Charles Medical Center is different, featuring mostly private, dimly-lit units that mimic the dark environment inside a mother’s womb to which preemies are accustomed.

The hospital is on the leading edge of an emerging national trend. The hope is that by creating an environment that mimics the uterus, the hospitals will allow babies to develop with fewer of the problems sometimes seen in preemies, including learning disabilities, eye damage and a higher risk of some chronic diseases.

Private rooms change the feel of the NICU, said James McGuire, director of neonatology at St. Charles.

“There’s actually a sense of calm and peace as you walk through it,” he said.

The tranquility has been a huge help for Bend resident and new mother Mary Jones, 24, and her son, Christian. “He’s doing a lot better,” she said. Compared to when he was in a multi-bed unit, “things aren’t startling him as much.”

Christian was born Oct. 9, at 26 weeks, about three months early. He weighed just over 2 pounds, Jones said.

Cutting noise may help babies develop more normally. Babies born prematurely often have trouble with their hearing later in life, said Bob White, a neonatologist at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Ind.

That’s because the part of the brain that processes sounds is among the last to develop in the growing fetus, White said.

Because of the same issue, the bright lights and quick movement around a traditional NICU could be partially to blame for preemies’ often-underdeveloped vision.

Some evidence shows the babies in private rooms go home sooner than those in large units, perhaps because both parents spend time at the bedside caring for and becoming comfortable with the baby.