In a terrifying moment following his daughter Olivia’s premature birth, Marlon White watched his wife lose consciousness as their 2-pound baby was rushed to intensive care without making any sounds. Born at just 29 weeks, Olivia required immediate medical attention while White stood helplessly in the hospital corridor.
Despite the crisis, White returned to his welding job the following day. His wife, Farra Lanzer-White, also resumed work duties two days later, managing emails and meetings from a workstation at the Denver medical facility. For the next two months, she balanced professional responsibilities while medical alarms signaled each time Olivia experienced breathing difficulties, all while preparing for her own cardiac surgery related to complications discovered during pregnancy.
This Fort Collins, Colorado family faced a difficult decision common among parents of critically ill newborns: continue working during the hospital stay to preserve any available parental leave for after discharge. Their experience reflects a broader campaign pushing for specialized NICU leave within America’s fragmented family leave system, which varies significantly across states, municipalities, and employers.
Seven months following Olivia’s arrival, Colorado made history by implementing the nation’s first paid NICU leave policy. The program provides up to 12 weeks for parents with babies in intensive care, supplementing the existing 12-week parental leave under the state’s family and medical leave system. Illinois will launch a more limited version next month, guaranteeing 10 to 20 days of unpaid leave for NICU families.
Advocacy groups are working to expand these policies while building momentum for federal legislation that would incorporate NICU leave into the Family and Medical Leave Act, the 1993 federal law providing unpaid leave for family and medical situations. Inimai Chettiar, president of A Better Balance, a nonprofit promoting paid leave and family-supportive workplace policies, sees potential for cross-party cooperation.
“We think it’s promising in terms of bipartisan support, because as we’ve approached people, it seems that they intuitively understand it,” Chettiar explained.
Colorado Democrat U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen is developing federal legislation that would provide up to 12 weeks of NICU leave beyond the standard 12 weeks of parental leave under FMLA.
While the United States lacks federal mandated paid family leave—a longstanding partisan divide—Pettersen aims to build bipartisan consensus around NICU leave and elevate it within parental leave discussions, despite FMLA excluding many workers unable to afford unpaid time off.
The legislative outcomes in Colorado and Illinois demonstrate mixed bipartisan potential. Colorado’s paid leave passed primarily along party lines, while Illinois’s shorter unpaid leave received strong bipartisan backing.
Illinois lacks an existing paid family leave framework to integrate NICU leave, according to state Rep. Laura Faver Dias, the Democratic sponsor whose twin sons were born at 27 weeks in 2014 and remained in intensive care for three months.
Multiple Republican legislators joined as co-sponsors, including state Rep. Nicole La Ha, whose daughter required 45 days of NICU care in 2017 after premature membrane rupture at nearly 30 weeks.
“Unless you have had this experience, you can’t fully understand why something like this is so meaningful,” La Ha stated. “You have an infant who is struggling to eat and breathe. The last thing you want to think about is work but unfortunately you have bills to pay.”
Although Colorado’s legislation lacked Republican support, Colorado State Sen. Jeff Bridges described “the quietest opposition you could hear,” with minimal public resistance from Republicans or business organizations. Bridges introduced the measure following his son Kit’s birth two months premature at just 2 pounds.
“I wanted to share stories that were so moving that the lobbyists would look like monsters if they opposed it,” Bridges stated.
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, approximately one in ten American babies require NICU admission.
During intensive care, newborns develop essential functions including swallowing, independent breathing, and temperature regulation, explained Dr. Karen Puopolo, section chief for Newborn Medicine at Pennsylvania Hospital and chair of the Committee on Fetus and Newborns of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Parental presence offers “a multitude of advantages both ways,” Puopolo noted. Direct skin contact stabilizes the baby’s heart rate, enhances breathing patterns, and supports maternal milk production.
Several companies have recently implemented dedicated paid NICU leave, including Morgan Stanley, Pinterest, and organic baby formula manufacturer Bobbie, while others have expanded parental leave duration or added caregiving leave policies that could benefit NICU families.
However, the challenges facing NICU parents have largely been overlooked, according to Sahra Cahoon, executive director of Love for Lily, a Colorado organization supporting NICU families that championed the state’s new legislation.
Cahoon established the organization following the death of her daughter Lily, who was born at 24 weeks and five days and survived three-and-a-half months in intensive care. Operating a jewelry business at the time, Cahoon continued working while maintaining hope for her daughter’s recovery.
“It’s probably one of my biggest regrets,” Cahoon reflected, though she felt fortunate to work remotely from the hospital and couldn’t afford to lose her income. “We did not know that our story was going to end that way.”
Since Colorado’s policy launched in January, nearly 800 individuals have requested neonatal care leave, according to Tracy Marshall, director of Colorado’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance Division.
Chris and Stevie Madden were among the first recipients after their son arrived almost eight weeks early on January 11.
Stevie Madden, a mental health professional who was hospitalized due to elevated blood pressure and bleeding, felt overwhelmed about managing the emergency while handling work responsibilities, having planned to begin maternity leave much later.
A hospital nurse informed Chris Madden about the new NICU leave option, which both parents utilized.
Chris Madden, an oil field mechanic, said he couldn’t have maintained focus on his dangerous job while his son struggled for survival. He learned proper techniques for handling his baby’s sensitive skin—applying gentle pressure rather than rubbing—and developed confidence that proved crucial when Roczen stopped breathing after coming home and required emergency hospitalization.
He shared information about NICU leave with every parent he encountered at the hospital.
“It was life changing not to have to think about money and stress and just be present with your baby,” Madden said.
