S2E12 | Enhancing NICU Care: Insights from Neonatal Occupational Therapist, Katie Ross

Join us for an enlightening and much needed conversation with Katie Ross, known as @bloominglittles on Instagram. Katie's expertise as a neonatal occupational therapist and a mother with NICU experience brings a wealth of insights to our podcast. In this episode, we delve into how we can enhance NICU care by advocating for positive touch, empowering parents and caregivers, providing information about how to care for your baby and how to best support them in a baby-led way. Katie's background as a Neonatal Occupational Therapist, combined with her personal NICU journey, enables her to offer a comprehensive perspective on the needs of NICU babies and their caregivers. Her role as a mother who has spent time in NICU and a professional who has worked within the NICU setting gives her insights a unique depth, she is able to understand the emotional impact of NICU as well as what we can therefore do to support parents to learn and develop to look after their babies best on NICU. Throughout this episode, Katie talks about critical aspects of NICU care and advocacy. She highlights the link between nurses and parents, shedding light on how this dynamic can impact the care journey. Katie discusses the importance of advocating for positive touch and skin-to-skin contact, emphasising the need for education to facilitate these practices effectively, both for parents and staff. We also talk about how learning this information after having your child in NICU can at times feel tricky, but the importance of knowing that you did the best you could with the information you had and also the need to spread this awareness and knowledge for all.  We explore important questions such as...  “What if one nurse tells me something is OK and another says something different”  “How can I advocate for me and my baby in times of stress and trauma”,  “How can I connect and care for my my baby whilst they are in NICU” “How do babies communicate in NICU?” “How would you know your baby is in pain, what would you need to do?” “The importance of physical touch”  Empowering Caregivers and Parents: One of the core missions of Blooming Littles, Katie's platform, is to educate parents and NICU staff to support the development of NICU babies. Katie has developed an online program that is  designed to equip NICU parents with the knowledge and tools needed to care for their babies during their time in NICU. Katie advocates for baby-led interaction and underscores the significance of recognising babies' cues and signs of stress. You can find out more about Katie on instagram at @bloominglittles and on her website www.bloominglittles.com where you can also find more information about her course.  Key Quotes and Takeaways Throughout the conversation, Katie provided some powerful quotes...  - "I had been treating as the therapist, in the same room where I had my child 7 hours later." - "We can have and create positive experiences in the NICU." - "I advocate for baby-led interaction and experience, learning your baby's cues is a great place to start." - "There are different signs of stress and overstimulation to look out for...when we stop and offer support (for our babies) we see that stress sign diminish." Join us in this episode and please let us know what you think by tagging us @miraclemoonuk when you tune in. Consider leaving us a review, and subscribing so you don’t miss an episode.  If you have been impacted by this episode or have any questions, please contact us on instagram or at [email protected] or www.miraclemoon.co.uk  A huge thank you to Emma at Cover My Bubble for supporting our podcast - you can find out more about all that Cover My Bubble offer at www.covermybubble.co.uk Music: Moments by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com