Medical procedures
Most babies require some procedures or treatments during their admission.
Consent for your baby's treatment
Consent means to give permission.
When your baby is admitted to Grace you will be asked to sign a general consent form for treatment and care for your baby.
Additional consent
You will be asked to sign an additional consent form when your baby has to undergo other specific procedures such as:
- an operation
- an anaesthetic
- blood transfusion
- immunisation
- or a specific investigative test.
Hearing testing consent
You will be asked to give permission by verbal consent for newborn hearing test screening and written consent (where you sign a form) for the newborn screening test.
Parents are encouraged to ask questions if you do not understand what medical decisions are being made in the care of your baby.
Read more about the NSW statewide infant newborn hearing screening program.
Withdrawing consent
You can withdraw consent if you have changed your mind.
The Grace team will discuss with you how this relates to your baby's care and what alternatives may be available.
For most procedures performed in Grace you can choose to stay with your baby or not. If you would like to stay, one of our team members will help you support your baby.
There are a number of things you can do to help:
- your voice and touch can help calm your baby and skin to skin cuddles has been shown to reduce their pain.
- you can help your baby by talking to them in a calm soft voice, singing to them, holding their body, supporting their arms or legs in a gently bent position, using your hands so they can push against them with their feet or offering them a finger to hold on to.
- using a drop of breast milk or sucrose (a special medicine available only in hospital) on a dummy has also been shown to help calm babies during a potentially painful procedure.
- your baby may still cry during a procedure however, we know your presence makes a difference and can reduce the duration and intensity of their pain.