The UC Davis Children's Hospital’s Intensive Care Nursery is designated as a regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit providing urgent, specialized care for newborn infants. The physicians and specialists in our Level III Intensive Care Nursery are experienced in effective care and treatment for infants born prematurely — before completion of 37 weeks of pregnancy — and newborns with high-risk medical conditions.

Working closely with pediatric subspecialists, nurses, social workers, and support staff members, Children's Hospital neonatologists treat newborn infants for birth defects and a wide range of conditions, including birth apnea, birth asphyxia, jaundice, patent ductus arteriosus, congenital heart disease and infectious diseases. To detect and treat congenital anomalies (birth defects) better, neonatologists collaborate with prenatal diagnostic specialists in the UC Davis Medical Center Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and with referring obstetricians and pediatricians from throughout Northern California.

Specialized diagnostic and therapeutic equipment in the Intensive Care Nursery includes high-frequency ventilation using oscillator and jet ventilators to treat infants who are experiencing respiratory distress syndrome and other breathing difficulties. The PICU also offers expert care for children who have developed bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Following treatment in the Intensive Care Nursery, special-care nursery patients remain under the care of a follow-up clinic that continues to evaluate their condition and progress throughout their first year.