Background Mother experiences variety of stressors related to premature birth, baby’s medical condition, unpleasant neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) environment and intuit liability of the infant. Identifying factors that causes stress may be useful in assisting health personnel in understanding their importance and in improving the quality of care. Objective of the study is to assess the stress levels of mothers whose neonate is admitted to the NICU as measured by Parental Stress Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS: NICU). Methods This prospective analytical study was conducted in NICU of a tertiary care hospital over a period of 12 months after obtaining permission from the institutional ethics committee. The self-administered questionnaire comprising questions on: sights and sounds experienced in NICU, baby’s looks and behaviour, parental role and relationship with her baby were collected. The mean score and standard deviation were calculated for each component of PSS: NICU Scale and mean scores are compared. Results Mothers having full term babies have experienced more stress than those having pre-term babies. As measured by PSS-NICU scale the highest mean scores of 2.3 ± 0.57, 4.36 ± 0.53, 4.43 ± 0.58 were obtained for questions “The other sick babies in the room” component of Sight and Sound, “Seeing my baby looking sick” Component of Looks and Behaviour, “Being separated from my baby” Component of Parental Role and Relationship respectively. Conclusion Present study summarises the overall impact of NICU environmental stressors affecting mothers in a developing country and also emphasises the need for further studies in this area for identification of factors that contribute to maternal stress. It may enable health professionals to facilitate mothers’ adaptation, thereby promoting optimal mother–infant relationships and subsequent infant development.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was declared as a pandemic in March 2020. The virus has affected more adults than children, with disease severity being lesser in children. We present a case of a neonate who tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 infection on day of life 3, 6, and 15. The baby had fever, respiratory distress, and shock. Laboratory investigations showed raised inflammatory markers, raised D dimer suggesting coagulopathy, coronary dilatation on 2D echocardiogram, and raised N terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide. The neonate was successfully treated with good supportive care, lung-protective ventilatory strategies, early intravenous immunoglobulin administration, corticosteroids, and remdesivir.

Turner’s syndrome (TS) is the common chromosomal abnormality. However, it is diagnosed rarely in the neonatal period. In many cases the diagnosis of TS may be delayed until childhood, when evaluation for short stature yields the diagnosis, or adolescence, when combination of growth failure and pubertal delay suggests the possibility of TS. Girls with TS are usually treated with growth hormone and oestrogen replacement therapies for short stature and oestrogen deficiency. A multidisciplinary team is usually required for management. Authors report an 11 day old infant who was diagnosed as Turner’s syndrome. The classic clinical feature, lymphoedema clinched the diagnosis in our case which was confirmed by chromosomal analysis. The infant was discharged and asked to follow up for regular growth monitoring and parents were counselled regarding the condition.

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Hydrops fetalis is a clinical condition characterized by pathological fluid accumulation in soft tissues and serous cavities of the fetus like peritoneal cavity, pleural cavity, pericardial space, and body wall edema. Hydrops fetalis is broadly classified into Immune Hydrops Fetalis (IHF) and Non-Immune Hydrops Fetalis (NIHF). Incidence of immune hydrops fetalis due to Erythroblastosis fetalis secondary to Rh Iso-immunisation has drastically reduced due to widespread use of anti-D immunoglobulin. In the last few decades, the majority of cases are identified as non-immune hydrops. It is important to determine the cause of the hydrops fetalis in order to administer optimal management of the neonate at birth. Despite recent advances the mortality of non-immune hydrops is still high. Authors report here six cases of non-immune hydrops fetalis encountered at our tertiary care hospital over last three years.