Colorado just raised the bar on paid leave for NICU parents—and every state should be paying attention

When your newborn is in the NICU, the rest of the world fades. Monitors beep. Nurses whisper. You count the minutes between updates. What most parents don’t have, though, is the one thing they need most: time.

Now, that’s starting to change. Colorado just made history as the first state in the U.S. to offer paid NICU leave. As  Axios reports, Governor Jared Polis has signed a bill expanding the state’s paid family and medical leave program to include an additional 12 weeks of leave for parents whose infants are hospitalized in neonatal intensive care. The new NICU-specific leave goes into effect on January 1, 2026.

The law builds on the state’s broader paid leave benefit, which voters approved in 2020 and launched in January 2024. offering up to 12 weeks of paid time off for medical or caregiving needs.

Colorado’s program is part of a growing movement among states to provide paid leave through publicly funded insurance systems—separate from the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which protects some workers’ jobs but doesn’t guarantee income.

Related: When the baby is in the NICU, who’s caring for the mom? A new model is changing that

A step toward what NICU parents have long needed

The bill acknowledges what science has long confirmed: babies thrive when their parents can be present in the NICU. A study published in JAMA Network Open assessed the outcomes following close collaboration with parents in NICUs. The study found that family-centered care—where parents are directly, daily involved with the hands-on care of their NICU newborns—led to better outcomes for both infants and parents. Babies gained more weight, and parents reported lower stress levels and greater satisfaction with care.

But presence comes at a  cost. Without paid leave, many parents are forced to make an impossible choice:  stay by their  critically ill newborn’s side—or hold onto their job.

One of the bill’s sponsors, Colorado State Rep. Yara Zokaie, knows that struggle firsthand, She described her own experience working remotely from the hospital while her baby was in intensive care. As she told Axios, “Having a child in the NICU is one of the most terrifying moments as a parent, and the last thing they should be worried about is having to choose between spending time with their child in the hospital and keeping their jobs.”

This is a big win—but it’s also a glimpse of how far behind we are

To be clear, Colorado’s new provision makes it the only state to specifically extend paid leave for NICU hospitalization. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have broader paid family leave laws, but they vary widely in duration, eligibility, and funding. And federally? The U.S. still offers zero weeks of guaranteed paid family leave.

That means NICU outcomes—like so much in parenting—are increasingly shaped by your zip code.

In contrast, Colorado’s law recognizes that care is not a private inconvenience—it’s a public good. And it builds on evidence that paid leave improves both health and economic outcomes for families. As reported by Axios, advocates see this move as proof that Colorado’s family leave program is working well enough to expand.

For moms, this is about time—and justice

Paid NICU leave isn’t just smart public health. It’s long-overdue recognition that the burden of care work—especially during medical crises—has too often fallen silently on mothers.

In most households, caregiving during a medical emergency still defaults to the mother. As we’ve previously covered, moms are often expected to “make it work”—balancing crisis caregiving with professional obligations, all without the systemic support their roles demand

Colorado’s new law doesn’t fix all of that. But it sets a precedent. One that says parents in crisis deserve more than platitudes. They deserve policies that meet them where they are: beside a hospital bed, holding the tiniest hand they’ve ever seen.

Related: Moms don’t need a baby bonus—they need paid leave, childcare, and real support

Sources:

1. SENATE BILL 25-144. Colorado Government. SENATE BILL 25-144.
2. NICU outcomes. JAMA Network Open. Outcomes Following Close Collaboration With Parents Intervention in Neonatal Intensive Care Units.
3. State Paid Family Leave Laws Across the U.S. January 202. Bipartisan Policy Centrer. State Paid Family Leave Laws Across the U.S.
4. Paid family and medical leave. January 2025. American Progress. The State of Paid Family and Medical Leave in the U.S. in 2025.
5. Colorado expands paid leave for NICU parents. June 2025. Axios. Colorado expands paid leave for NICU parents.