Blog
Announcing the 2025 NICU Hero Award Winners
We are proud to announce the Hand to Hold NICU Hero Award winners for 2025! The Hand to Hold NICU Hero award recognizes NICU Professionals and NICU Units that deliver outstanding Family Centered Care. NICU Heroes encourage and support the NICU parent’s role as a...
The Basics of Play for your NICU Baby
Playing with your baby is therapeutic in nature and helps provide an opportunity for parents, caregivers, and family members to bond with their baby. by Eliana Cutler, Occupational Therapy student and doctoral candidate at Midwestern University’s College of Health...
Let’s Talk About Human Milk Fortifiers: What Is It and Why Does My Baby Need It?
When a baby is in the NICU, there is a good chance that the baby will need extra attention paid to his or her nutrition. So much attention is given to human milk and breastfeeding that by now most people are very well aware that human milk is the ideal feeding for most infants. But it’s not always the very best for babies in the NICU! Parents of babies in the NICU are often surprised to learn that sometimes a mother’s breast milk isn’t enough.
Know Your NICU Nutrition: The Importance of Appropriate Nutrition in the NICU
It's good to become familiar with the types of nutrition your baby will receive while in the NICU. by Melinda J. Elliott, MD, FAAP Chief Medical Officer, Prolacta Bioscience Pregnancy is a special journey in life. Every parent wants an idyllic pregnancy without...
Meet Ivette Hawthorne, NICU Family Support Specialist
Meet Ivette! Ivette is a NICU Family Support Specialist at Hand to Hold helping to reduce the negative impact of a NICU stay and ensuring the best outcome for the entire family. She supports NICU parents at St. David’s Women’s Center of Texas, North Austin Medical...
Announcing the Newly-Designed Hand to Hold App
Hand to Hold is proud to announce its brand new innovative app created specifically for NICU parents. Available free in the App Store and Google Play, the Hand to Hold app offers support, community, and educational resources for NICU and bereaved parents, right at...
Stay Healthy! Tips for Visiting the Pediatrician with Preemies or NICU Grads
by Jenna Maxfield While there are many precautions parents can take to protect their NICU graduates from contracting illnesses such as a cold, the flu, RSV or COVID-19, sometimes the inevitable happens. Between school, play dates, family visits and running errands,...
How to Support Your Partner During a NICU Stay
A traumatic birth and a NICU stay both place added pressure on relationships. Both partners may react to stress and grief very differently. Tending to and nourishing your relationship with your partner now will provide for a stronger foundation for your family as...
Why You Should Set Intentions Instead of Resolutions
Setting intentions can feel kinder to yourself. We’ve all entered into a new year, bringing with us baggage from the past year, an ongoing pandemic, and the expectations of New Year’s resolutions. New year, new me. There’s a general feeling of displacement that has...
Coping with Holidays in the NICU, After the NICU, and in Bereavement
Yes, the holidays are hard but even more so in the NICU, post NICU, or in bereavement. The holidays are hard. This used to be a blanket statement I subscribed to. Prior to being in the NICU with my wife and daughter, going home on hospice care, and becoming a...
Meet the 2022 NICU Hero Award Winner Kate Higgins, RN!
Congratulations to Kate Higgins, RN, for being named the 2022 NICU Hero Award winner! Higgins cares for families in the NICU at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. We asked parents across the U.S. to nominate their NICU Hero, someone who...