There's a particular kind of exhaustion that comes with having a baby in the NICU. It's not just the sleepless nights or the beeping monitors or the medical terminology you're suddenly expected to understand. It's the impossible math you're doing in your head at 3 AM while sitting next to an isolette.
If I take my leave now, I won't have it when she comes home. But if I go back to work, I'm not here for her during the scariest days of her life. How many more days can we afford for me to be gone? What if she's here for weeks? Months?
Starting January 1, 2026, Colorado is eliminating that calculation.
Colorado's FAMLI program is becoming the first in the nation to offer parents up to 12 additional weeks of paid leave specifically while their newborn is receiving inpatient care in a NICU. This leave is separate from their standard 12 weeks of bonding leave through their PFL program. This means parents can be eligible for 12 weeks of NICU leave, to be taken intermittently, and 12 weeks of parental leave, for a combined 24 weeks of child bonding leave (in some cases, up to 28 weeks is possible if there are medical complications during labor and delivery).
Every year, about 10% of babies born spend time in a NICU, a figure that is expected to continue to increase as c-sections rise and as maternal health remains on the decline. Now, parents can be at their baby's bedside during those critical early days without the clock ticking down on the time you'll have together once they finally come home.
The amendment to Colorado's FAMLI law, signed by Governor Polis earlier this year, recognizes something fundamental: the time you spend in a NICU isn't bonding time; it’s survival time. It's learning how to read monitors and watching nurses perform procedures and trying to hold it together when the doctors use words like "complications" and "setbacks."
Bonding happens way later, when you’re home, when you can finally exhale, when you can look at your baby without wondering if today's the day something goes wrong. Every parent who has experienced a NICU stay can relate and knows that the early days and weeks should not count towards the bonding period.
This policy will change the NICU experience for Colorado families in ways that extend beyond the obvious financial relief:
Parents can actually be present. Not just physically in the room, but mentally present.
Mothers can recover. NICU births often involve complications. Medical leave for the birthing parent can now be preserved for actual recovery, not divided between recovery and NICU time.
Families can make better decisions. When you're not worried about running out of leave, you can focus on what matters: your baby's health and your family's wellbeing.
Partners can participate equally. Both parents can be involved in NICU care without one person having to immediately return to work to preserve household income.
Colorado's approach proves something important: Paid family leave programs can evolve as we learn more about what families actually need. The original FAMLI program launched in 2024. By 2026, they're already adapting it based on real-world experience.
That kind of responsive policymaking is rare and is also exactly what we need as more states build their programs and look to truly support their working parents.
