A day in the life of a NICU Dietitian

I slept for 8 hours last night. Hallafreakinlulah. I've been having trouble falling asleep lately...be it the excitement for my job, old age or just issues trying to make myself to bed at 9-10ish and waking up at 6 am, who knows. I end up laying in bed for hours. But, what I do know is that it sure gets in the way of having a normal, happy life. If anything I have learned to appreciate my many years of normal sleep. I have decided I am not ready for kids. Sleep is too important to me, especially while working [more than] full time. Good thing that is not even close to an option right now, haha.

On a more positive note, I'm still loving my job! AND I'm getting the hang of it to where I'm almost ready to be on my own and I'm starting to feel like I fit in with the team at rounds and the team of RDs. (I better since they are the only friends I will have soon with these hours, Hahaha.) Our census has been unusually high, overflowing in fact. It's fun and quite the learning experience. But yeah, the babies are as cute as ever and I am doing my best to save one baby at a time (or 50 really) by getting them the nutrition they need to grow! Everyone (including healthcare professionals sadly enough) asks me and my family what the NICU needs a dietitian for so I decided to briefly explain a little better what I do and why there shouldn't be a question for the need for a nutrition expert on the team for these precious sick little babies!

7:15

I arrive at IMC in the Women's Center and take my nifty special badge to get me into the NICU unit. I go through the numbers of "ins and outs" aka intakes, output, route of feeding, special needs, etc from the day before and make sure it all looks good and help enter in the information into some programs on the computer. Many premature babies have troubles breathing, haven't learned the "suck/swallow" skill yet and can develop infections and problems in their intestines if feeds are not watched carefully so outside nutrition besides just simply breastfeeding is needed. Not to mention the other problems nutritionally with the little ones!

9:30

Rounds start. The team consists of a Neonatologist, Nurse Practitioner, Pharmacist, Respiratory Therapist, Nurse, and of course, the Dietitian! I give the nutrition report to start off and then everyone goes through giving numbers for the past day on that baby and their recommendations for that infant relating to their specialty.

12:30

Rounds are over and I'm off to lunch! Mmmmmmmm

1:00

I begin assessments on the babies that are due for an initial or reassessment (all babies are due once a week depending on their admit date). I type it up and upload my assessment into the electronic chart and sign off in charts for the new babies and plot their growth on the growth charts. These take most of the afternoon. Then I do educations for parents and talk to nurses as needed relating to the baby's special nutrition needs...aka are they on nutrition through the vein? through a tube in the gut? by mouth? breastfeeding? a mix of all the above? what is their order for? are they on or do they need fortifiers in their feedings? are they meeting their needs? do they need a MVI? Is the baby going home on a special formula and if so meet with that parent to teach how they can provide their baby the same calories and such at home with the formulas.

4ish

Drive home!

Obviously that's not everything but for the most part is my schedule these days in the big girl world. And I love it. On the days I'm so tired I just remember how grateful I am to have a job right out of college, doing what I went to school for and with a company I can say I am proud to be with.

Okay off to speed dating. Yes, that is my charity work for tonight, haha. My friend is having this activity tonight and I thought it'd be fun/funny to go and see what happens with it so we're going together. Plus there is refreshments. Wish me luck...