No one wants to go into a pregnancy being concerned about possible complications, but for some women, there are risks associated with pregnancy. While most high-risk women will have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies, it's good to know you can deliver at a hospital that is specially equipped to care for preemies.

From premature babies to twins, triplets or more, the neonatal specialists at Tulane Lakeside Hospital are uniquely qualified to take care of your newborn and any special needs he or she might have.

Expert NICU Care for Our Tiniest Patients

Our Level III Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is staffed with an interdisciplinary team to ensure that your tiny bundle of joy receives the best possible start.

Our highly skilled neonatologists work together with neonatal nurse practitioners to provide 24-hour care, seven days a week. Therapists, registered nurses and social workers round out the team so you can be confident your infant is getting the highest level of care available in the New Orleans area.

We offer the latest treatments – such as total body cooling, in which the temperature of infants who don’t have enough oxygen at birth is intentionally lowered – to amenities such a donor breast milk program.

But we provide loving, holistic care for the entire family, with services such as:

Critical Care for Babies & Mothers

In addition to providing critical care services for Jefferson Parish's tiniest patients in our neonatal intensive care unit, Tulane Lakeside also offers intensive care services for mothers and other adults. Our six-bed adult ICU provides the highest level of care to maternal-fetal patients right here on our Metairie campus, offering convenience and peace of mind to know that mom can be treated in the same facility as baby if the need arises.

Additionally, our ICU also allows us to treat a wide variety of patient needs outside of the obstetrics area, from the intensive wound care services required for some plastic and reconstructive surgeries, to more complicated orthopedic procedures such as spine surgeries.

Conditions We Treat

If your child is born with one of the following conditions, the NICU at Tulane Lakeside Hospital offers leading-edge treatments and protocols to increase your infant’s health and wellbeing. Although this is by no means an exhaustive list of what we can do, common conditions we treat include:

  • Retinopathy of Prematurity – an eye disorder that could result in blindness that primarily affects low weight premature infants born before the 31st week of pregnancy.
  • Necrotizing Enterocolitis – a serious disease of the intestinal tract.
  • Low Birth Weight Infants – a baby who weighs 5.5 pounds or less when born.
  • Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Withdrawal syndrome in newborns caused by use of opiates during pregnancy.
  • Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension – a serious condition that causes the baby’s blood flow to bypass its lungs.

Neonatal Transport Team

The Neonatal Transport Team at Tulane Lakeside Hospital is comprised of specially-trained registered nurses and respiratory therapists. Critically ill infants may be transported in an ambulance, helicopter or airplane, depending on the location.

NICU Graduate Clinic

The care we provide high-risk infants doesn’t end when you leave our NICU. Through our partners with the Tulane University School of Medicine, we offer a NICU Graduate Clinic that serves as a liaison between the NICU team, pediatrician and subspecialists in order to smooth the transition home, provide ongoing support to the patients and their families and help ensure the patient receives the highest quality medical care.

Call (504) 988-4158 to learn more.