t-shirts for IVs

[nell]

Do any of you use baby shirts with some kind of adaptation for IVs?

We are looking into having some of these made, so I'm seeking input on what will work best.

Thanks for any advice.

[prmenrs, RN]

We have a special "developmental" hamper--a member of the Development Committee takes home the small swaddling cloths, positioning rolls, incubator covers, et al, and launders them @ home.

If the laundry will give you a mesh bag to put shirts in, that would keep them intact. The ones we buy are sturdy enough to go through the laundry w/o a problem, but if you're going to spend the money for these special shirts, you'd probably better separate and launder them yourself.

Parents can and will take stuff home to launder, esp if they brought it in for their baby. It WILL get lost otherwise. We put that stuff in a "patient belonging" bag for them. Caution them to use UNSCENTED detergent/fabric softener! Moms usually love doing something like that for their babies.

[MichaelaNICU]

My experience has been negative in the velcro area. Many numbers of things end up stuck in the velcro and we have to pull them out to get the sticky to work again. If the velcro is fastened before washing it seems to work out fine though. That is hard to do when you work in a bigger NICU because people forget.

We have used Hospital Isolette Gowns they seem to work a lot better because they have snaps down the front all the way and down the shoulders from the neck. They do sell these and you can look Hospital Isolette Gown up on google or any other comparable search engine I suppose. These were recommended by another hospital and work very well. Hope this helps...