Thank you to our friends at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital for sponsoring this post.
Did you know that reading aloud to your baby starting in infancy can help support brain development? It can also lay the groundwork for a better start when he or she enters school. Reading to infants is a great way to introduce communication, listening, memory and vocabulary skills. The Fetal Care Center at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, in collaboration with medical professionals, created the ENRICH (Engage, Nurture, and Read to Infants and Children) Literacy Program. The program is designed to empower all parents to engage, nurture, and read to infants and children. ENRICH provides resources for parents and educators in our community in an effort to increase literacy rates from birth and beyond.
Here are some helpful tips to promote literacy as early as infancy:
- Name your baby’s body parts and clothing as you dress him or her
- Name foods and talk about their colors as you eat or feed your baby
- Narrate the story as you change your child’s diaper and explain each step as you do it
- Sing songs during bath time
- Use a variety of voices for each of the characters when reading a story
- Use a mirror to show facial expressions while interacting with your baby
- While out grocery shopping, talk to your baby about the colors, shapes and sizes of the food
To learn more about the ENRICH literacy program visit nicklauschildrens.org/Enrich.
About the Fetal Care Center at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital
The Fetal Care Center at Nicklaus Children’s cares for families expecting an infant that has been pre-diagnosed, in utero, with a medical condition that will require medical care after birth. Our team well understands the emotions that parents undergo after learning their unborn baby will have medical needs. Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is here to offer support before, during, and after delivery.
The Fetal Care Center is committed to optimizing care access and convenience for expectant families whose unborn baby has been pre-diagnosed with a medical condition before birth. Our team of pediatric subspecialists collaborate with prenatal care providers in the community and beyond to provide families with comprehensive, coordinated care and support from prenatal testing to delivery, postnatal care and the transition to infant care.
In June of 2019, the Fetal Care Center opened a special delivery unit for pre-screened healthy women who are expecting a baby who will need medical/surgical care immediately after birth. The unit provides a comfortable birthing environment that supports a smooth transfer of the baby to one of Nicklaus Children’s three Beacon Award recognized state-of-the-art pediatric intensive care units: neonatal, cardiac and pediatric intensive care. Best of all, the Special Delivery Unit makes it possible for families to remain together at Nicklaus Children’s following the birth, creating a less stressful transition for the entire family.
The Special Delivery Unit of the Fetal Care Center at Nicklaus Children’s features:
- 5 Labor and delivery rooms
- 5 Antepartum rooms
- 2 operating rooms (one equipped for fetal surgery)
- Family waiting area
Learn more by visiting: www.nicklauschildrens.org/Fetalcare
 Literacy Program.){kind=link}