NICU Visitor Restrictions
Visitor restrictions are in place at Valley's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Please see our Visiting Hours page for the latest guidelines.
Most babies are born without complications, but sometimes a baby has difficulty making the complex transition to life outside the womb. A premature or difficult delivery, a pregnancy with multiple babies, or the presence of a birth defect may require that a newborn be admitted to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for special newborn care.
Valley’s NICU, a Level III nursery, provides newborns with the specialized care needed to get them off to the best possible start in life.
The Highest Level of Neonatal Intensive Care
Babies in the NICU are usually the tiniest of newborns, often born prematurely. In addition to being fragile, they require specialized critical medical and nursing care.
Valley’s 15-bed NICU is designated by the State of New Jersey as a Level III nursery, a designation given to neonatal units able to provide the highest level of care for high-risk mothers and acutely ill newborns.
All medical care is delivered in a manner designed to support the parents as well as the baby and to optimize family-centered care. For example, mothers are taught and encouraged to provide “kangaroo care” or skin-to-skin contact with premature infants. And breastfeeding is encouraged and supported whenever possible.
The NICU Team
Valley’s NICU is staffed by board-certified neonatologists, who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The neonatology team also includes highly skilled neonatal nurses, lactation consultants and a wide variety of other healthcare professionals who care for babies and their parents.
Every child admitted to the NICU is evaluated to determine if follow-up care will be needed at the Kireker Center for Child Development.
Secure Webcam for Families
Being apart from your infant while he or she is cared for in the NICU can be challenging. To make the separation a bit easier, parents and extended family members have secure access to AngelEye Health System, Valley’s NICU camera system, which allows them to have “virtual visits” with their little ones via a webcam.
AngelEye cameras are placed at designated bed spaces in the NICU and allow family and friends to view their infant in real-time through a secure online portal. AngelEye adds peace of mind, provides reassurance, and helps strengthen the bond between parents and their preemies or hospitalized infants when parents can’t be at the bedside.
In addition, online videos with educational materials are available for families, which can also be accessed after discharge. AngelEye also allows families to receive communication updates on any device with an internet connection.
The camera delivers a secure image stream for parents and family members to view their babies remotely, as long as that device has an internet connection. Cameras do not transmit sound and do not record video. The service is compatible with any internet-capable device and most popular browsers.
Upon admission, parents will receive a link to download the app for access to AngelEye Health System. Parents need to sign a consent form to use the AngelEye Health System before being given unique login credentials. No other users will have access to AngelEye unless they’re given the login credentials by the baby’s parents.