Your baby will receive any care that involves handling or disturbing them in clusters throughout the day at times that suit their routine, which is often based on the timing of their feeds. At other times the main priority is to let them sleep and rest and these can be great times to enjoy skin-to-skin (kangaroo) care with them. 

You are welcome at their bedside for as many hours as you are able. We strongly encourage you to participate in their care as much as possible, and our staff will support you to do this until you feel comfortable doing things yourself. Please see the caring for your baby section for lots more information.

Please see the My Hospital and My Community sections of the 'My RCH' app for other local resources.

Daytime

The day starts with a change of nursing shift at 7am when the night staff will handover your baby’s care to the day staff.

The night doctors handover to the day shift doctors at 8.30am and the morning ward round starts in the ICU rooms (537-550) at around 9am, usually reaching the HDU rooms (551-560) between 10 and 11am.

There is also an afternoon ward round that starts around 4pm when the day consultant hands over to the night on-call consultant and they discuss all of the babies who need ICU-level care. On weekends this usually happens over the phone if all of the babies are stable.

Nightime

The nursing shift changes over again at 7pm and the night doctors start around 9pm.