The incident happened at 161st Street in Flushing at around 3.30am. Others were inside at the time but it remains unclear if they were children or adults.
At a press conference on Friday morning, an NYPD official confirmed that there were multiple families inside the home at the time and many are believed to live there.
There were five baby girls, four baby boys and some of their parents inside when the stabbing took place at 3.40am.
After attacking the five victims, the woman went to the basement of the property where she slashed her left wrist in an attempt to take her own life.
She was discovered bleeding and unconscious in the basement, and after officers applied a tourniquet, she regained consciousness and was taken to the hospital, police said.
One of the baby girls was more severely injured than the other two.
Police initially feared for her life but her condition has improved to critical but stable since she was taken to the hospital.
"There was 1 child more seriously injured than the other two, at one point we thought might have been likely but thank God she was upgraded and is now stable," NYPD Assistant Chief Juanita Holmes said.
She added that the property was split between living quarters but that they had uncovered paperwork which showed it was a daycare centre too.
"We pray that all of the victims will be fine and will survive these injuries," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. "We are hoping these young babies — small and so very fragile — are also strong enough to overcome this horrible act of senseless violence."
State records indicate that a business called Mei Xin Care Inc. was registered at the address, but there was no listed phone number for that company.
It remains unclear how many stab wounds they each suffered and where on the body they were struck.
The building where the horror unfolded is a multi-family townhouse which contains several separate apartments
The stabbing is understood to have happened on the ground floor and in the basement.
