St. Dominic’s Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) placed second out of 249 hospitals worldwide in the 2025 Babies With Books international NICU Read-A-Thon, logging 1,144 reading sessions between September 8–18. With an average daily census of about five infants, the unit achieved 19.62 reading sessions per baby per day, hospital officials said.

The Babies With Books Read-A-Thon is a friendly global effort encouraging NICUs to promote bonding and early brain development through shared reading. This year’s event ran September 8–18, 2025, continuing a program that has expanded annually.

St. Dominic’s success builds on last year’s performance, when the NICU finished 8th out of 244 with 830 sessions.

The NICU’s book supply for the Read-A-Thon was provided by Lela’s Library, founde

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