Simple Ways to Love Your Favorite NICU Family

While questions and statements like, “how can I help?” or “let me know if you need anything!” are said with the purest of hearts, for a family in the thick of the NICU, they may not have the capacity to answer that question and reach out for help. But it’s not because they wouldn’t appreciate the help! In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Love and support from loved ones is how many NICU families find their strength to keep going.

It’s amazing how our bodies and minds operate in the midst of trauma. (Especially when it involves our kids.) Because so many days in the NICU are filled with loads of information and require a lot of brain space to approve or help make medical decisions, decision fatigue over simple everyday tasks is not uncommon.

Here are a few simple ways you can love your favorite NICU family:

Food

• Meal gift cards

• Take the family out to supper

• Grocery gift cards

• GrubHub gift cards

• Meal trains

House

• Mowing the lawn

• Shoveling the driveway/sidewalks

• Picking Garden Weeds

• Water flowers + garden

• Put out the Trash/Recycling

• Clean their home or pay a professional to clean their home

Travel

• Gas cards - for driving back and forth from the NICU

• Offering transportation to other kids in the family for things like getting them home from school and delivering them to extracurricular activities.

Friendship

• Ask them what their baby’s current milestones are

• Simply sit with them

• Handwritten notes