Neonatal Intensive Care - Commonly Used Terms

Common Terms

Apnoea - a temporary stopping of breathing

Aspirate - Amount of stomach contents remaining and measured prior to a feed. This amount gives an indication as to whether the baby is tolerating the feed

Bagging - a small rubber mask is placed over the baby’s mouth and nose to pump oxygen  into the baby’s lungs. This may be needed with long apnoeas or to change the baby’s ventilator or ventilator tubing

Bolus - an amount of fluid given rapidly into a vein

Bradycardia/Brady - a slowing of the heart beat to less than 100 beats per minute. It can usually be sped up by gently patting the baby on his/her nappy to provide stimulation

Breast Pump - A pump used to express breast milk

Caffeine - a drug commonly given to premature babies, to stimulate and reduce the apnoea and bradycardia episodes

Cardiac Echo - a picture of a baby’s heart using ultrasound

Corrected Age - The age your baby would be if he/she had been born at 40 weeks

CPAP Continuous Positive Airway Pressure – double plastic prongs that sit in the nose, which increases the pressure in the airways and helps to decrease the effort of breathing

ETT / Endotracheal tube -  a thin plastic tube inserted into the mouth or nose into the airway. This tube is then connected to a ventilator

Express - To collect breast milk into sterile bottles either by hand or with a breast pump

Extubate - the procedure of removing the endotracheal tube from the airways

Extremely Low Birth Weight - A baby who weighs less than 1000gm

Full Term - A baby born after 37 weeks gestation and before 42 weeks

Gestational Age - the length of the pregnancy from the last menstrual period until birth

Guthrie Test / Neonatal Screening Test - a blood test used to test all newborn babies. They are screened for phenylketonuria (PKU) and congenital hypothyroidism

Intubate - Term used for the procedure of placing an endotracheal tube into the baby’s airways

Low Birth Weight - A baby who weighs less than 2500grams (2.5kilograms)

Meconium - Tarry, black first stool, sometimes passed before birth

Neonatal - Refers to newborn babies less than 28days old

Oximetry - Measures the oxygen level in the blood and expresses it as a percentage (out of 100) from a red light on the end of a probe taped around the baby’s hand or foot

Perinatal - Refers to the time around the birth, both before and after birth

Phototherapy - Intense lights providing phototherapy in the incubator if your baby is jaundiced

PKU - Phenylketonuria - an inherited disorder that increases the amount of the amino acid phenylalanine to harmful levels in the blood. (Amino acids are the building blocks of protein). If PKU is not treated, excess phenylalanine can cause mental retardation

Post Term - Refers to a baby born after 42 weeks of gestation

Premature/Preterm/'Premmie' - A baby born before 37 completed weeks of gestation

Suctioning - Suction apparatus is at every baby’s cot and is used to remove secretions from the baby’s airways using a thin plastic tube

Surfactant - Is a material normally produced by the lung, which spreads like a film over the tiny air sacs allowing them to stay open. These open air sacs are essential for oxygen to enter the blood from the lung, and for carbon dioxide to be released from the blood into the lung for exhalation

Tube Feeding - To feed a baby with milk through a fine plastic tube passed from the nose or mouth into the stomach

Ultrasound - A painless safe way to examine some organs, by sound waves which give a picture on a screen. It is similar to the scan you may have had during your pregnancy

Ventilator - A machine connected to the endotracheal tube, delivering oxygen/air to the baby. This machine assists the baby with breathing

X-ray - Chest and abdominal x-rays. The amount of radiation is minimal and will not harm your baby