What to Ask During NICU Rounds

What to Ask During NICU Rounds

“Do you have any questions?”

“Nope!”

The doctor walks away.

Six minutes later, your brain says:

“Actually, we have thirty-seven.”

If you’ve ever done this during NICU rounds, welcome to the club.

There is something about having an entire medical team standing around your baby’s bedside that can make every question you’ve thought about for the last 24 hours suddenly disappear from your brain.

Then rounds end, everyone walks away, and suddenly you remember the question you thought of at 2:13 that morning.

So first things first:

Write your questions down.

Put them in your phone. Keep a notebook beside your baby’s bed. Write them on the back of a receipt if you have to.

Your brain is already carrying enough.

What Are NICU Rounds?

Rounds are when members of your baby’s medical team come together to discuss how your baby is doing and make a plan for their care.

Depending on your NICU, you may hear from doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, dietitians, therapists, and other members of your baby’s care team.

And there can be a LOT of information packed into a very short conversation.

You may hear about weight gain, feeding volumes, oxygen requirements, medications, labs, imaging, events overnight, and plans for the day—all within a few minutes.

You are not expected to magically understand every word.

And you are allowed to ask questions.

Start With One Simple Question

If you don’t know where to begin during rounds, try:

“What is our biggest goal for today?”

That question can take a complicated medical discussion and bring it back to something much easier to understand.

Maybe today’s goal is decreasing respiratory support.

Maybe it’s increasing feeds.

Maybe it’s gaining weight.

Maybe it’s simply giving your baby another day to grow and rest.

Knowing the goal helps you understand what the team is working toward.

Ask What Changed

NICU plans can change quickly, so another helpful question is:

“What has changed since yesterday?”

If something did change, follow it with:

“Why did we make that change?”

You aren’t challenging the team by asking why.

You’re trying to understand your baby’s care.

There’s a difference.

Ask What the Team Is Watching

Sometimes the plan is less about doing something new and more about watching how your baby responds.

Ask:

“What are we watching most closely today?”

Then:

“What would make you concerned?”

This can help you understand which changes matter and which things are expected during your baby’s NICU course.

Ask What Could Change the Plan

This is one of my favorite questions:

“What could happen today that would change our current plan?”

Because now you aren’t only learning what the plan is.

You’re learning the reasoning behind it.

Maybe your baby needs to tolerate a certain number of feeds before increasing them.

Maybe their oxygen requirement needs to stay below a certain level before respiratory support can be weaned.

Maybe the team is waiting for lab results before making another decision.

Understanding those pieces can make the NICU feel a little less unpredictable.

Ask About the Next Step

NICU parents hear a lot about what is happening right now.

But sometimes you desperately want to know:

Where are we going from here?

Try asking:

“If everything goes well today, what would the next step be?”

That doesn’t mean the next step is guaranteed.

NICU babies are exceptionally talented at making plans and then immediately deciding they have other ideas.

But understanding what the team is working toward can help you see the bigger picture.

Ask the Questions That Make Everyone Think

Advocacy does not always mean demanding something.

Sometimes advocacy is simply asking a thoughtful question that makes everyone in the room stop for a second and reconsider the situation.

You might ask:

“Are there any other options we should consider?”

“What are the risks and benefits of this plan?”

“What would make us choose a different approach?”

Or:

“Is this the plan of care you would want if this were your child?”

The goal isn’t to create conflict.

The goal is to understand the options, reasoning, risks, benefits, and alternatives before important decisions are made.

Say Something When You Don’t Understand

You do not need to pretend you understand something because everyone else in the room seems to.

Try:

“Can you explain that in a different way?”

Or:

“I don’t understand what that means for my baby.”

Or simply:

“Can we slow down for a second?”

Medical terminology is our everyday language in healthcare.

It probably isn’t yours.

You deserve an explanation you can actually understand.

And Don’t Forget Your Own Observations

You spend hours watching your baby.

You may notice patterns.

Maybe your baby behaves differently during feeds.

Maybe you notice something happens after a medication.

Maybe their breathing looks different to you.

Maybe something simply feels different today.

Tell the team.

You can say:

“I noticed something and I’m not sure if it’s important, but I want to tell you about it.”

One of the phrases I say often is:

Your concern is data.

It may not ultimately change the plan, but it deserves to be communicated and considered.

You Don’t Have to Remember Everything

This may be the most important part.

You are trying to learn an entirely new medical language while worrying about your baby.

You may be exhausted.

You may be pumping.

You may be recovering from birth.

You may be trying to care for children at home while spending every possible minute at the hospital.

And somehow you’re also supposed to remember everything that happened during rounds?

No.

Write it down.

Write down your questions before rounds.

Write down the answers.

Write down what changed.

Write down today’s goal.

And write down what could change the plan.

That’s actually one of the biggest reasons I created The NICU Parent Playbook. I wanted parents to have one place for the information that starts piling up during a NICU stay instead of trying to carry all of it in their heads.

I also created Advocate Like a Mother: The NICU Rounds Guide specifically to help parents prepare for rounds, understand the plan, and find the questions they may not even know they can ask yet.

But whether you use one of my resources, the Notes app on your phone, or the back of that receipt buried in your diaper bag:

Write the question down.

Then ask it.

You are part of your baby’s care team.

Your questions belong in the conversation.

Until next time,

advocate like a mother.

Created by Savannah Mahon, BSN, RN — The Voice Behind Savannah Speaks