When your baby’s bilirubin levels are high, a condition called jaundice can occur. Testing the level of bilirubin is done by a blood test. Serum bilirubin levels are drawn and the results are sent to the ordering physician. A nutritional assessment is completed and reviewed with parents, and follow-up instructions are discussed. This test can only be performed by a physician who has privileges at Southlake.

Southlake’s Birthing Unit offers private birthing rooms where mothers labour, birth, and recover in a warm and comfortable setting. Each room is spacious and includes a three-piece washroom and a pull-out chair for family members to spend the night. Modern operating rooms and a recovery room are located within the Birthing Unit for both elective and emergency caesarean sections.

Birthing Room Guidelines

All labouring women are admitted to a private birthing room to labour and birth. Following birth, we make every effort to give new mothers an available room that matches their insurance coverage. All mothers will be given the option to pay to upgrade from a ward or semi-private to private room accommodations. Private rooms are available in the Birthing and Post-Partum Units.

Note: your baby’s safety is an important part of our care at Southlake. Hospital staff, physicians, and volunteers can be easily identified by their photo identification badges. It is mandatory for all of these individuals to wear their ID badge while at the hospital. If you require assistance, observe a suspicious person or activity, have lost personal items, or have any security concerns, inform a staff member immediately.

When a pregnancy ends unexpectedly — prior to 20 weeks — women are referred to the Early Pregnancy Loss Clinic (EPL) through the Emergency Department or their family doctor. Options and treatment will be discussed and planned, as well as necessary follow-up.

Southlake offers a labour and delivery hotline for expectant mothers who require labour and pregnancy support. This hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Southlake provides families with direct communication with a registered nurse in the Birthing Unit who will discuss your concerns and provide you with labour and delivery information.

Southlake’s maternal fetal medicine clinic brings specialized care for high-risk pregnancies closer to families in northern York Region and Southern Simcoe County. With a dedicated interprofessional team of obstetricians and nurses, families facing high-risk pregnancies no longer need to travel to Toronto or Barrie for comprehensive maternal-fetal care services, including early risk screening.

Contact your local obstetrician or gynecologist for referral to the clinic.

At Southlake, we understand that compassion and exceptional care is essential for babies who require a higher level of care. Our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has medical expertise, progressive technology, and state-of-the-art equipment to provide this level of support.  

As a Regional Level 2C nursery, our highly trained nursing staff and physicians are able to stabilize and care for babies born at 32 weeks or greater from conception to delivery — often referred to as preterm babies. Other full-term babies may require close monitoring for breathing and nutrition after birth at the NICU.

The NICU is comprised of an interprofessional team of intensive care providers with a dedicated team of volunteers to support new families during this difficult time.

To offer continued support to parents with babies in our NICU, courtesy accommodation is available for mothers whose babies must remain in the NICU after mom is ready for discharge.

For more information download the NICU brochure.

Infants in the NICU will be given the opportunity to be held skin to skin by a parent or caregiver to promote infant physiological stability and positive parental psychological benefits. The practice of skin-to-skin contact between the infant and the parent/caregiver will be considered routine practice in the NICU.

Infant benefits include the following:

• Increased physiological stability
• Longer periods of quiet sleep
• Improved self-regulation development
• Increased breastfeeding incidence and duration
• Decreased pain perception 
• Reduced stress and crying

Parental benefits include:

• Enhanced parent-infant attachment with a reduction in the negative effects of having a sick or preterm infant
• Greater parental ability to recognize their infant’s cues
• Increased self-confidence
• Decreased parental depression 
• Increased maternal breast milk supply

The Paediatric Asthma Clinic provides asthma education and assessment for difficult to manage asthmatics. A physician’s referral is required.

The Southlake Paediatric Complex Care Clinic offers holistic wrap-around care for children with medical complexity, and their families through our partnership with SickKids. The goal is to bring resources from both hospitals directly to the patient, providing coordinated one-stop care for families while developing a long-term and supportive relationship with them throughout their health care journey. 

Children who have complex medical conditions, such as cerebral palsy, congenital heart disease and children who do not have a clear diagnosis are considered to have complex care needs. As these children tend to be treated by more than one health care provider the Complex Care Clinic provides a coordinated, comprehensive, and collaborative model that is designed to fit each patient’s unique needs. All referrals to the Complex Care Program are triaged through SickKids. 

Southlake’s Pediatric Oncology Satellite Clinic is located on Level 1 of the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre.  We deliver cancer care for children, from birth to 18-years-of-age, through our partnership with the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) and SickKids Hospital. Our nurses, pediatricians, pediatric oncologists and interprofessional members work in partnership with similar teams at SickKids to provide quality care closer to home.

To learn more about the POGO Pediatric Oncology Satellite Clinic at Southlake, click the image below.

The Post-Partum Unit is a 20-bed unit that focuses on assisting new families following the birth of their baby. Staff on the unit help new families prepare for their return home and educate them on how to care for both mother and baby. This unit also supports undelivered mothers requiring hospitalization due to complications of their pregnancy until they are ready for discharge.

Southlake offers a labour and delivery hotline for expectant mothers who require labour and pregnancy support. This hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Southlake provides families with direct communication with a registered nurse in the Birthing Unit who will discuss your concerns and provide you with labour and delivery information.

The Prenatal Assessment Clinic provides a full range of consultative and diagnostic services for patients who do not have a family physician. Patients are followed by the Obstetrician on-call and a Registered Nurse until the transfer of care to an assigned obstetrician at 16 -18 weeks of pregnancy. The clinic also offers all prenatal screening and referral to any other identified service.

Babies requiring ROP eye exams and monitoring can be seen in this clinic. A physician’s referral is required. Your paediatrician will refer your baby if required.