Intensive medical care for your newborn

In recent years, Munich has seen an increase in the number of babies born. Dr. Geisenhofer Women's Clinic has been caring for preterm births and sick newborns in our neonatology department (Neonatal Medicine, or NIPS for short) since 1996.
A modern monitoring station is available here, in addition to the neonatal ward. We offer a combination of medical care to the highest standard and gentle, individual care for your baby. We offer your child the very best through our intensive fostering of the connection between parents and child.

Perinatal focus

Paediatric medicine, prenatal medicine and obstetrics work particularly closely together in our specialism, neonatology.

In neonatology, we care for preterm infants from as early as 32 + 0 weeks of gestation and a birth weight of over 1500 grammes as well as acutely sick newborns. Day or night, our ward can deal with any sudden or unexpected emergency which may occur to your baby. The route from the delivery room to the neonatology department is also very short.

The Team

The Neonatal Department is led by Dr. med. Karina Holak and Dr. med. Peter Schwick, both of whom have many years of experience in neonatal medicine. Our expert neonatal care is currently guaranteed by a total of six paediatric physicians, around-the-clock. Where necessary, the duty paediatrician will be called to the childbirth and will then take over the medical care of your child.
The nursing team, constituted of experienced medical and paediatric nurses, some of whom have two years of further specialised training, is intensely focused on the well-being of your baby. Read on to find out more below.

Dr. Med. Peter Schwick

Dep. Senior Physician Neonatal Intensive Care

Our attending physicians

Diagnostics and therapy

The latest diagnostic and therapeutic processes are used to treat preterm and neonatal patients, including ultrasound investigations of the heart, brain, internal organs and hips, and we perform optimally non-invasive ventilation procedures. Breasts, pulse and oxygen saturation can be monitored in children. An emergency laboratory is available 24 hours a day.

This modern medicine is supplemented by means of complementary methods.

Our philosophy: Family-oriented intensive care

Our daily activities are guided by one specific desire:

Parents should be able to integrate their baby as rapidly as possible into their lives, even in the Neonatology Department. For this reason, intensive care technology is reduced to the absolute minimum necessary, while the attention to your child and family is increased to the justifiable maximum.

We achieve this major objective through significant sub-objectives:

Parents and child belong together

We will already get in touch with you during the preterm consultation if you wish to have a preterm birth. In this way, we get to know you at a very early stage and can potentially alleviate any concerns you may have. It is also likely to be possible at that stage for you to visit our ward, so that you can see where your child will be cared for once it comes into the world.
Direct skin contact between the mother, father and baby, the "kangaroon" (this term is inspired by the reproduction of marsupials, and kangaroos in particular, which carry their still immature offspring for some time on their bodies), is intensively encouraged. As soon as your baby's health permits, you will be able to rest and cuddle together, like so many kangaroos.
After childbirth, you will be empathetically guided in the support and care of your child and rapidly become involved. To you, this means that you will soon be able to take care of your child by yourself, even when the child is preterm or ill.
As soon as possible, you will be able to take your baby into your room, for a few hours to begin with, and longer later on, as part of our so-called "Rooming-In" process. Like this, your child can be continuously by your side, and you will also be able to take care of them by yourself.

KangaRoom

We can offer you an intensive care room, in which you will have the opportunity to be continuously with your baby, even when they require monitoring or treatment.
The best place for a preterm or neonatal infant is with its mother. That's why we call this room the "KangaRoom". Here, you can spend the entire day right beside your baby. The room is physically adjacent to the Neonatology Department, so that we can be with you quickly should you have any questions or require help caring for your child.

Developmental care

Most preterm infants are born healthy, but because of their immaturity, they are not yet ready for life outside of their mother's womb. We strengthen the infant's still-immature functions, for example using external warmth or respiratory support.
Physiological maturation of the brain is possible if the premature infant experiences plenty of attention and positive stimuli, while ensuring that unpleasant stimuli are minimised. We plan our care and medical measures, and tailor these individually to your child.
Many intensive care units do not take the day/night rhythm into account. In order to make the transition to a day/night rhythm slightly easier, the light in the room is dimmed or darkened to begin with. We switch off the lights during the night, and noise is further reduced. This helps your child to sleep better.
Loud noises disrupt brain development. We seek to reduce loud and machine noise to a minimum with the help of a traffic light. Music can have a soothing effect.
Even very premature infants can perceive smells. Babies love natural smells. We recommend placing a worn shirt, or a cloth that you have worn on your body and that you can obtain from us, on your baby.
The healing touch. Everyone who cares for your baby is encouraged to use touch to strengthen the body awareness and interactivity of your child. A regular massage can improve your babies weight gain and circadian rhythm.

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding and mother's milk are important for you and your baby. Therefore, in the first hours of your child's life, you will be provided with opportunities to obtain mother's milk, so that even if your baby is yet unable to drink from your breast, will receive this valuable colostrum.
Preterm and ill neonatal babies are more likely to experience food intake issues. With the help of storage techniques, individualised placement aids and alternative feeding methods which support breastfeeding and nutrition with mother’s milk (e.g. use of a teat or breastfeeding with a breastfeeding set), we will provide you with instructions on how to enable even weak or ill babies to drink from the breast.

Complementary method

Classical homoeopathy: Classical homoeopathy is a holistic therapy method, which works according to the principle of similarity. This has been proven as a complementary therapy at our clinic over a period of 10 years and is very popular. Should you so desire, your child and you can also make use of this to support your therapy.
Massages: A baby massage provides parents with the opportunity to touch their child in a gentle way and boost their confidence in dealing with the preterm infant. We will be happy to instruct you with stimuli, so that you can also gain confidence in this area.
Osteopathy: Even within the first few days, physio-therapeutic or osteopathic support and guidance can have a positive effect on your baby's development. Where indicated, it is possible to make use of this treatment.

Networking

Interdisciplinary cooperation with the Kinderklinik III Orden, the German Heart Centre in Munich, the Orthopaedics Department of the Schwabing Children's Hospital, the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Unit at LMU Munich, the Prenatal Diagnostics Department of Dr. Geisenhofer Women's Clinic, Dr. Daumer-Haas (medical genetics) and the attending obstetricians and referring gynaecologists.

Quality assurance

The statutory required quality management is performed on an ongoing basis, and continuously upgraded. Further education at national and international events form an integral part of standard advanced training at Dr. Geisenhofer Women's Clinic GmbH. Employees who are directly involved in the care of mother and child are regularly trained in resuscitation and first aid and take part in simulation training.

Externally, because of our focus on perinatal care, we are voluntary participants in the perinatal and neonatal surveys performed by the Bayerische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Qualitätssicherung (BAQ), a quality assurance programme for the obstetrics and neonatology sectors.

Our perinatal focus is listed in the Hospital Requirements Plan of the Free State of Bavaria and complies with all personnel and technical criteria in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Committee for the Care of Preterm and Newborn Infants.

Frauenklinik-Dr-Geisenhofer_Flyer_Neonatologie_2020.pdf

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