Special Infant Care Clinic

If your baby is at high risk for developmental problems, find extra care at UNC Children’s Special Infant Care Clinic. You’ll receive services designed to complement the regular, ongoing care provided by your pediatrician, so your child can grow and develop to his or her fullest potential.

Developmental Follow-Up Care

Children are referred to the Special Infant Care Clinic when they leave a neonatal intensive care unit based on their risk for developmental delay. We see Newborn Critical Care Center graduates, as well as babies and toddlers from other hospitals upon referral by their community health provider.

Your child may benefit from our program if he or she has been diagnosed with a condition that indicates an increased risk of developmental problems, such as:

• Prematurity (born at a gestational age of 32 weeks or earlier)
• Birthweight less than 1250g
• Neurological conditions such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, seizures, brain bleeds, or hydrocephalus
• Genetic syndromes associated with neurodevelopmental delays
• Congenital infections such as cytomegalovirus (CMV)
• Complex congenital heart disease
• Hypothyroidism
• Breathing problems, for children who discharged home on oxygen or with a tracheostomy, or required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) during their hospitalization.
• Feeding difficulties requiring gastrostomy tube
• Small for gestational age