can i legally take my baby home from nicu without doctor discharging orders?

Where I live, if you try to take a baby home before a doctor has signed discharge papers, they will go above you and keep baby in the NICU until they decide - and then the department is notified so you will be monitored afterwards when you are at home, so living here, it wouldn't work out well for you - I kow this isn't what you want to hear, and I do hear what you are saying (I know how busy it gets in there) - it won't be long though...maybe another week....I know that feels like a lifetime when you don't have your baby with you at home (I wouldn't let them take my baby girl for a second and I breast fed while I was on the theatre table being sutured, so I know that the separation is painful, beyond words) - but try to hang in there and be patient and your baby will be home soon - check with your state though as each country/state has different laws xo

I am a NICU nurse and they will not let you take home an infant AMA...they will call their legal department, get a court order to force the baby to stay...that will also trigger a social services call and your baby may not even go home with you when discharged.

THAT is how big of a deal it is.

Also, babies in ALL NICU's are on 24/7 monitoring. There is a reason for that. Most of the monitors are set on a 20 second apnea delay, so if your baby stops breathing, they will know it.

THERE IS NOT 10 BABIES TO 1 NURSE...if that is really the case, then you need to call the state and lodge an emergency complaint. The maximum you can do at ANY NICU in the United states is 1 nurse per 4 babies....PERIOD. MOST NICU's do less. So please, stop exaggerating!!!

Poor feeding can be a sign of a laundry list of problems. The MINIMUM feeding is set by the Registered Dietician and the Neonatologist. The means that if your baby, starts to consistently take less than the minimum requirement, your baby will either start to dehydrate or their blood sugar will start to drop....I have seen that happen and the ER visits when this happens after discharge (when parents refuse to listen to instructions) is not pretty....if you think having a baby in the NICU is a problem, try walking into his room and finding him limp with his eyes rolled back in his head...THAT is much worse.

There is a reason why your baby isn't feeding...and they need time to discover it. Usually it is the first sign of a host of reasons, you could have been a gestational diabetic,etc.

Sorry if the NICU isn't convenient, but that is how it is. Your baby is there because it NEEDS to be there. Parenting isn't easy...you cannot avoid things because it isn't easy...there will be immunizations and many doctor visits, etc. This is the easy part...the best thing to do is get tough now.

DO NOT DO THIS!! The baby may look okay but preemies can go under very quickly. My son was born at 24 weeks and 6 days. He is fine now but during the 5 months he was hospitalized I saw about 3 babies born between 34 and 36 weeks die unexpectedly. When a child doesn't eat as much as they should coupled with a premature birth there could be some unexpected issues. Talk to the doctor about why they are keeping her. Make them tell you everything and if you don't understand make them explain. You are your daughter's best advocate and sometimes that means you have to make yourself a nuisance. In my experience doctors may look down on a mother they perceive as uneducated or emotional so they give paltry excuses. Make them tell you what's going on. If they say all is well, make your plans to go home known and let them know you will be expecting discharge papers within the hour. That being said, don't take the baby from the hospital without those papers unless you want to start the journey of motherhood with Child Protective Services at your door. Good luck and congrats.

Nicu Discharge

You could try but like others have said they will get a court order taking guardianship away from you. I took my 7 week old to the ER cause she rolled off the couch. They told me she had a skull fracture and needed to be kept for observation for 24 hours. After 34 hours my daughter was still doing great. I demanded they get me the paperwork so we could leave. At 3am they got a hold of a judge who said I ouldnt leave the hospital with my daughter. I called a lawyer I knew and prepared for a fight. Come to find out there was never a skull fracture there wasnt even a scrape my daughter was just fine. My lawyer went and vacted the order from the judgeand we left 10 hours later with an apology and a $400 bill. Not sure why they didnt charge insurance since I wasnt allowed to sign her out AMA. I now have a 10 day old baby in the NICU born at 34 weeks. They are keeping her because of feeding as well. She is in a crib, not hooked up to breathing machines but has a feeding tube because she "slept through" her care time. I am going to be able to stay all night since my sister has my other children. Its always in the middle of the night when they say she didnt wake up for her feed at all. I will see if there is any truth to that claim tonight. If she wakes up like she has been doing all day Im raising hell. I want my baby home. I find it strange she does great all day from 9am when we get there until we leave at 10pm everyday then she all of a sudden doesnt take a feed at all.

I understand your frustration and trust me i was there just little over 2mos ago. My little girl was slow eater and the nurses would put the breast milk or formula through tube if she didn't finish it ,within the time limit they gave her. Also, there was time when i was breastfeeding, i got there late and by the time i changed into my nursing clothes 15 minutes wasted, while i was breastfeeding the nurse walked in and she try to take my baby away from me, saying she would tube formula through her nose time was running out, it broke my heart and made me think, if this is how they treating my baby when i am here, what are they doing to her when i am not. I refused the nurse and told her i need atleast 30 minutes to breastfeed my baby, she wasn't happy about it and called the nurse practioer where she was told to let the mother do what she feels is best for her baby. Another time, one nurse said she will tube the remaning milk, because she has to feed another baby and my daughters time is up. They kept my baby for almost 2wks just for her apetiate, but how will she gain weight? if she isn't given time? and isn't getting good peaceful sleep from other babies crying and them walking in and turning lights on? She was barely gaining when i brought her home , and within one week of being home, she started to gain and now is healthy 3mos old thanks to god. A baby needs the warm loving of mother and their paceful home, however just be patient and wait for your baby to be discharged. You can't afford to bring home baby who is sick or what not and something happens to them in your hand, then you start feeling guilthy because you knew that baby wasn't suppose to be home since they didn't get discharged. There was million of times the 3wks my baby was in there ,that i wanted to take her home, but didn't. When your daughter come home, I stay up day and night making sure she is feed and changed and loved for the first month , till she is strong and her apetiate is good, but for now trust god and let her be there till she is discharged, but keep asking when your baby will come home,so they aren't keeping her there for the money. Good luck my dear and be patient please.

NICU needs more nurses.

The answer to your question is yes. You can legally sign her out AMA (Against Medical Advice) but i don't recommend it. If you try to do this and the doctors feel strongly against it they can petition the courts to over rule your decision and also contact social work.

Hospitals do not keep patients when they don't need to be there. The doctors are looking at other items besides just her ability to eat such as how does her body respond during the feeding - does her respiratory or heart rate increase, does her oxygenation rate decrease.

If you feel like you do a better job then they do then make it a point to be there at every feeding.

You probably can but it will likely spark someone looking into that choice (like Dept of Children & Family Services or the like). Why not just stay at the hospital with her & feed her the bottles if she does fine with you? It seems like the easiest thing would be to do that, so that she does pass their requirements & they will sign you out with their blessing.

How can have been to a drill, when you havnt gone through basic yet? If you are still in dep, you can just dep-loss yourself, tell the recruiter you dont want to be army reserves anymore. Usually people pressure you into not joining, who pressured you. Y

They do not keep babies just for the sake of it - you should not even consider taking your child away, it would be most irresponsible.