Butterfly Newborn Intensive Care is the ward where babies, usually less than one month old, are cared for if they need intensive, high-dependency or specialised care.

Our large team of nurses, doctors and allied health teams usually care for between 800 – 1,000 infants and their families from all across the state and sometimes further afield each year.

It is common for other teams at The Royal Children's Hospital, sometimes several, to be involved in the care of each patient.

Many of our babies are admitted soon after birth because they need surgery or specialist medical tests and treatments.

Most babies stay for less than two weeks, but some may need our care for up to six months, especially if they were born very early.