Key points

NICU trauma lingers, shaping parents’ mental health long after hospital discharge.

Early mental health support and family-centered NICU care improve parent well-being.

Fathers also face hidden PTSD and depression risk after a NICU stay.

“We had a NICU stay of about two and a half months. That was not something I could have mentally prepared for at all. Everything was going so smoothly—until it wasn’t. That experience was rough. [...] I wasn’t prepared for the trauma. We survived, but I don’t feel like I did emotionally. I just shut down.”

Over the past year, I had the privilege of interviewing caregivers who bravely shared their stories about their experience in the NICU. In our study of over 1,000 parents from across the United States, those whose babies required NICU c

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