When to Contact Us
Please call between the hours of 7:00 am and 10:00 pm. If there is a Local Area Dispatch Line or Area Coordinator, please only call those numbers first. If you have not heard back within two (2) hours (within our operating hours), please call the nearest listed photographers.
Gestational Guideline
Our guideline for dispatching a volunteer photographer for a Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep session is that the baby be at least 22 weeks gestation. This is a baseline from which medical professionals may deviate based upon their experience. It is possible that babies younger or older than 22 weeks would be either advisable or inadvisable.
For additional information, please view our Medical FAQs.
Life Support
If a baby is on life support, a NILMDTS photographer will be available to capture photographs before the baby is removed from life support or after. Please ask the family to do what they are most comfortable with, however, we encourage the family to wait until life support is removed. This way we can capture photographs of the baby without the tubes and wires.
Making the Call
If you need to request our services for a family go to Find a Photographer. The more notice we have about a family’s possible need, the greater the chance a NILMDTS Affiliated Photographer will be available to provide services.
Please see if a photographer is available BEFORE you offer the services to the family. We often receive calls directly from families. However, they are enduring the worst moment of their life and it is often best if a hospital employee facilitate the call on behalf of the family.
As this is a volunteer service, we can never guarantee the availability of a photographer. You can find out more on What to Expect.
Please remember all of our photographers are volunteers. In some communities we may not have enough photographers to meet the need. We do our best to accommodate all requests, but there may be times our photographers are unavailable. When a volunteer is unavailable, please offer image Retouching Services.
Volunteer Professionalism
Please remember that NILMDTS is a nonprofit volunteer organization. NILMDTS and our volunteer representatives are not an affiliate, contractor, vendor, or a volunteer of or for your institution. NILMDTS is there at the request of and as a guest of the family. NILMDTS volunteer photographers conduct the photography services in a professional, humble and respectful manner, being sensitive to the bereaved parent and hospital staff. Services are conducted with as little disruption to Labor and Delivery and NICU as possible. If NILMDTS affiliated photographers feel they must address something with the hospital staff they are encouraged to make an appointment. If you have a concern with our services, please email us here.