Setting Visitor Guidelines after the NICU can be a difficult conversation for parents to have with grandparents, family members, and friends. Many times, others don’t fully understand the importance of keeping all babies, but especially babies who have graduated from the NICU safe from respiratory illness and germs.

Dr. Stefanie Lopacinski, Perinatal Behavioral Health Consultant at Abington-Jefferson Health is here to talk about this important topic for families. Dr. Lopacinski earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Temple University. After completing a Master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania, she graduated from The Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality with two doctorate degrees in Human Sexuality and Education. She has over 15 years of clinical experience providing individual, couples, and group therapy in several settings, including outpatient and inpatient centers. Her last 5 years at Abington has been providing individual therapy to Moms with Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders in Pregnancy and Postpartum as well as Perinatal Loss.

On this episode you will hear:

• How you can say “no” and feel confident in setting your visitation guidelines that work for your family.
• How often Dr. Lopacinski speaks with parents about this struggle (especially now during COVID 19).
• Advice for families trying to set guidelines.
• How to approach the subject, with your doctors and nurses, before leaving the NICU.
• How to deal with grandparents/aunts/uncles that tell you they are vaccinated, if you are still uncomfortable with no masks (and that IS OK).
• Whether you should draft a written plan to share with family members.
• What about getting feedback and language to use from the neonatologists and nurses.
• The current recommendations from the medical world.
• Why this does not just relate to NICU babies.
• When you can consider taking the baby to Target or out shopping for the first time (and how to deal with the anxiety).
• We also discuss the struggles that moms have telling visitors “no” or less than what the visitors want.
• You will hear about how to deal with struggles in your relationships.
• How to deal with the demands on families that are visiting, and the guilt tied to the stressful situation.
• We will discuss how you can empower yourself and your family to make the decisions you want to.
• Why you should throw your doctor, throw your pediatrician under the bus.
• Why you should print something to have on your refrigerators - "rules for this house."

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Please also consider making a donation to Today is a Good Day, at www.todayisagoodday.org, to help support families with a NICU baby.

This episode was produced and directed by Tony Lopes, of SoftStix Productions LLC (www.softstixproductions.com), in collaboration with co-producer and director of photography Michael Leary, of One Fifteen Films LLC (www.onefifteenfilms.com) and editor David DeLizza.

Copyright 2020 to 2021, SoftStix Productions LLC.