visiting children in the hospital

Dayton Children’s hospital visitation hours for those other than parents and grandparents are 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The hospital's main entrance doors are locked from 8:00 pm to 5:00 am daily. Parents and grandparents visiting outside of these hours will need to enter the hospital through the emergency department doors. 

Parents and/or legal guardians of hospitalized patients are encouraged to stay with their child during their stay.

Safety is always our top priority. As part of our efforts to keep our patients safe, Dayton Children’s is using a visitor ID badge process for anyone visiting our inpatient areas. All visitors, parents, guardians and siblings need to wear a badge at all times when visiting Dayton Children’s. When you arrive, go to the welcome center at our main entrance. A member of our team will help you get a badge. A drivers license is required to receive a visitor badge. 

• Parents and guardians will receive a reusable badge for the length of their child's stay. 
• Adult visitors will receive a one-time-use badge and will need to get a new badge each day that they visit. 
• Child visitors are required to have a parent or guardian with them to receive their one-time-use badge. This badge will feature their parent's picture and name in order to protect the privacy of our young visitors. 

Please respect our quiet hours from 8:00 pm - 8:00 am daily. During these times, we lower the lights, close doors to patient rooms, and ask everyone to lower their voices.

Give patients, families, and the health care team privacy when it’s needed or requested. We offer a number of areas for you to pass the time while you wait.

The PICU, NICU and behavioral health inpatient unit have limited visiting privileges. Check with special care units for visiting information.

The best way to prevent infection is by washing your hands. To protect your child and others, your child may be put into isolation. If your child is in isolation, a sign will be placed outside of your child’s room to let others know what steps they should take to protect themselves before entering your child’s room. Please ask the nursing staff for available toys, books and other activities to keep your child occupied during their stay; children in isolation are not permitted to use the Activity Center.

As a children’s hospital our top concern is the safety of our patients and their families. Therefore just as we enforce a certain dress code with our employees we also enforce a dress code with our visitors in order to avoid offensive situations that could potentially lead to unsafe situations. Visitors (including patient families, donors, volunteers etc.) must wear attire that is consistent with our dress code including: no logo t-shirts or other clothing with inappropriate or derogatory slogans or marks, short skirts, sagging pants, etc. Our security officers also hold discretion to discuss attire with a visitor if they deem it to be inappropriate for Dayton Children’s environment.

Safety is the number one concern for all of our patients. Hand washing is the most important way to stop the spread of infection. Please follow these guidelines when visiting Dayton Children's:

• Before you enter your child’s room, you should use alcohol-based cleaner, such as hand sanitizer, or soap and water to wash your hands, scrubbing them for 15 seconds, rinsing and drying them.
• Wash your hands after using the restroom or changing a diaper.
• Cough into a tissue or your shirt sleeve. Do not cover your mouth with your bare hands.

All weapons, including firearms and concealed firearms, are prohibited on all Dayton Children's Hospital property, including main and south campus and satellite locations. 

If you arrive at Dayton Children's main campus in possession of a weapon, you can: 

• Lock the weapon in the manner required by law in your motor vehicle. 

If you do not have a motor vehicle available, or if you cannot properly secure the weapon in a motor vehicle: 

• Call public safety at 937-641-3636 from outside the hospital. Public safety will make arrangements to properly store the weapon. The weapon will be returned to you when you leave the hospital's property. Weapon storage is not available at any of our satellite locations.

For health and safety reasons, Dayton Children’s locations are entirely smoke-free. No one may smoke or use electronic cigarettes anywhere inside the building or outside Dayton Children’s property.