NICU ediquette...?

This is a tough situation. This is one of those things that protects the parents that DO visit, but doesn't do much for the abandonned babies. I had twins early. One was in the NICU for 7 weeks, and the other for 11. My husband and I were there everyday, taking shifts to spend time with our preemies. I saw babies who had few visitors, and it is very sad. But I also had other people gawking at my children, watching in some sort of fascination and horror as they got spinal taps, or were intubated, etc, which made me extremely uncomfortable and a little annoyed. There's a reason people walk through staring at the ground. Imagine a total stranger walking into an adult's room and staring at them, or asking doctors and nurses questions about them. The nurses told me that they aren't allowed to answer questions about other patients, be they adults or infants. It's all the same. But what you CAN do is donate clothing, teddy bears, blankets, pictures, mobiles, crib mirrors, etc. Things that the nurses can use to make the isolette/crib more of a home. While you aren't supposed to use lots of those things at home, in the NICU, the kids are attached to all sorts of monitors, so there's no danger in putting teddies in the crib with them. And those things do make a huge difference for the children.