The average NICU stay for an infant born with gastroschisis is 6 weeks37 but may be up to one year38 or longer. The CDC released a report in 2007 which acknowledged that of newborns with birth defects, the longest hospital stay tends to be for those who had surgically repaired gastroschisis, with an average stay of 41 days.39There is wide variation in the length of hospital stays for gastroschisis babies, which depends mostly on the length of time needed to establish intestinal function and the degree of prematurity.40 For this reason, it is difficult to predict how long your baby will be in the NICU before your child is born.
37. www.seattlechildrens.org/pdf/PE731.pdf
38. http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/07/13/ije.dys092.full#ref-5
39. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5602a1.htm
40. http://www.minnesotaneonatalphysicians.org/images/Gastroschisis_handout.pdf