Expanded NICU at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford Offers More Space, Comfort, and Advanced Technology for Mothers and Newborns

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New Rooms With Enhanced Facilities for Optimal Care and Family Bonding

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, the cornerstone of Stanford Medicine Children's Health, is proud to announce a newly renovated 16 bed unit within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services. The new Axe and Blaise Wanstrath Neonatal Intensive Care Unit features 14 new rooms—12 private rooms and two semiprivate rooms with beds that can accommodate newborn twins—designed to enhance the care and comfort of newborns, mothers, and dedicated health care staff.

Paul A. King, CEO of Stanford Medicine Children's Health, emphasized the importance of continual advancement. "We focus on the comfort of our patients and families across our entire organization. This new patient unit is evidence of our unwavering commitment to family-centered care, ensuring that every mother and newborn experience the highest quality start to life and their lifetime."

Packard Children's, recognized as a "high performing" and top children's hospital in the nation, remains steadfast in its mission to deliver premier maternity care for pregnant women and their infants, with top-tier obstetric, neonatal, and developmental medicine services all under one roof.

A nurturing environment

Families have started moving into the new state-of-the-art unit, where the private and semiprivate patient rooms provide the quiet environment proven to be more conducive to recovery and development.

"These new rooms are designed to offer a serene, nurturing atmosphere for newborns and their mothers, especially for our littlest newborns, who need a different kind of protective care than babies who are just a few weeks older," said Lawrence Prince, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine. "The updated unit has adapted our protocols to meet these fragile babies' unique medical and developmental needs and support their families at every step of their health care journey."

Packard Children's has also enhanced the unit's capabilities to provide care for critically ill newborns who need emergent surgery, dialysis for kidney failure, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which circulates and oxygenates a baby's blood if their heart or lungs are not working properly. "For newborns with critical illness, ECMO is often the therapy of last resort and is often lifesaving," said Prince. "The new rooms allow babies to recover peacefully with their families beside them, minimizing the stress of shared spaces."

New Infant Nutrition Lab

The hospital also opened a new Infant Nutrition Lab, where human milk is prepared and fortified. Managed by Clinical Food Services and operated by infant feeding technicians, the lab centralizes storage and preparation of human milk, adhering to best practices. This ensures that babies receive tailored nutrition and allows mothers to provide expressed milk without interrupting time with their newborns.

Renowned as a leading children's hospital in the nation, Packard Children's remains devoted to its mission of providing exceptional maternity care. Looking ahead, the next phase of renovations will update the remaining NICU units with shared patient rooms, and by summer 2025, the hospital plans to open a new maternity unit, antepartum unit, and the Bass Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases. Funding for this project was supported by generous philanthropic contributions.

Media Contact

Elizabeth Valente
Stanford Medicine Children's Health Media/PR Manager
[email protected]
(650) 269-5401
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About Stanford Medicine Children's Health

Stanford Medicine Children's Health, with Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford at its center, is the Bay Area's largest health care system exclusively dedicated to children and expectant mothers. Our network of care includes more than 65 locations across Northern California and more than 85 locations in the U.S. Western region. Along with Stanford Health Care and the Stanford School of Medicine, we are part of Stanford Medicine, an ecosystem harnessing the potential of biomedicine through collaborative research, education, and clinical care to improve health outcomes around the world. We are a nonprofit organization committed to supporting the community through meaningful outreach programs and services and providing necessary medical care to families, regardless of their ability to pay. Discover more at stanfordchildrens.org.

SOURCE Stanford Medicine Children's Health and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford