Why TIP?
Babies born preterm often face future difficulties when it comes to growth and development. These infants need specialized care to help them achieve the age-appropriate improvement milestones that give them the best chance to live normal lives and minimize long-term effects. Our Totally Infants Program is a place where parents can feel confident that their newborn will receive not only the medical care they need to transition safely to home, but also the customized therapy and warmth needed to accelerate all aspects of development.
Filling the gaps in the healthcare system
While the NICU and children’s hospitals do an excellent job of taking care of infants’ acute medical problems, the nursing staff and therapists at hospitals are not always able to spend as much time as needed working with these infants on feeding. The multidisciplinary team at Totally Kids is committed to improving developmental milestones and 100% oral feeding without the need of artificial tubes and devices. We also offer families a quiet, low-stress environment that promotes healing. A family member can stay at the bedside overnight and is encouraged to work with our staff to improve the infant’s development, optimize the feeding regimen and shorten their hospital stay.
Benefits to the Infant
- Accelerate infant development
- Optimize oral feeding
- Shorten length of hospitalization
- Ensure a safe and successful transition to home
Your Child’s Care Team
Upon admission, our clinical team evaluates and assesses the child’s neurological status, functional status, developmental levels, and nursing and medical needs. The team then develops a customized rehabilitation program which, depending on the needs of the infant, often include:
- Occupational Therapy
- Speech Therapy
- Physical Therapy
- Recreational Therapy
- Dietary/Nutrition
- Pediatrician
- Physiatrists
- Neonatologists
- Nurse practitioner
- Social worker
- Case manager
- Rehabilitation nurses
- Cuddlers
Parents take comfort in knowing that the core rehabilitation team at Totally Kids has their Ignite certification, which recognizes the skills and knowledge needed to provide exceptional patient care.
Infants Served by TIP
A wide range of infants are served through the TIP program, including those confronting:
- Complications of prematurity
- Feeding and swallowing difficulties
- Neurological disorders
- Pulmonary disorders
- Chronic lung disease or airways anomalies (ventilator dependent)
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Developmental delay
- Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
- Chromosomal or genetic disorders
- Heart and other organ transplant
- Cardiac disease
- Total Parental Nutrition
- Other medically-complex conditions
Going Home
Weekly status reports are developed so that both staff and parents can monitor an infant’s progress towards the child’s successful discharge home. Upon discharge we offer support groups, workshops and training programs to educate families and prepare them to help manage their child’s immediate and future care needs.
