Austin community steps up to read to newborn babies in Dell Children's NICU

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Newborn babies in the neonatal intensive care unit are getting an extra assist to help with their early brain development.

The unit at Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin has recruited community members, along with staff and families, to read to the little ones around the clock during their first days of life.

The goal is to help close the language exposure gap between babies who require a longer stay in the hospital and those who go home a day or two after being born.

"Babies in the NICU, on average, hear about 10,000 to 20,000 less words per day," said Neuro NICU Program Director Dr. Ashley Lucke.

Instead of parents and siblings talking, singing, and reading, Dr. Lucke said NICU babies hear a lot of alarms, beeps, and monitors.

To break up that noise over weeks, or even sometimes months, the hospital is participating in a nationwide push to read to the babies as much as possible.

"Our Babies with Books read-a-thon is really focused on trying to maximize the positive verbal and language exposure that our babies get," Dr. Lucke said.

KXAN staff was among the community members invited to come in with a favorite children's book and read.

Friday was sibling day, where hospital staff made sure the waiting are was extra cozy, by bringing in instruments, art, and a library of books for big brother or sister to read.

"It brings a little bit of normalcy to the NICU," said NICU Clinical Manager Melissa Marnell. "This kind of brings that home environment, reading to your baby, kind of bonding with them, and increasing their words read, which helps grow their brains."

Roughly 300 hospitals are participating in the two-week read-a-thon, while engaging in a friendly competition to see who can read to their babies the most.

After the first week, the hospital already logged more than 190 people reading for more than 4,000 combined minutes.

The goal is to finish in the top 30 of hospitals nationwide, a feat Dell Children's was able to accomplish last year.

"We're trying as hard as we can through the neuro NICU program here at Dell Children's to create an environment to give them the absolute best possible outcome and the best brain health for their life," Dr. Lucke said.