So I was wondering if this is down to what the nurse feels best in terms of how often to change a babies nappy. Do you always change the nappy with every feed? What if you have 4 babies all on 3 hourly feeds. Would you be changing nappies on 4 babies every 3 hours or change on alternative feeds and do 6 hourly cares.
Im questioning this because i was always under the impression of using minimal handling but now im worried that a baby could get a sore bottom with 6 hourly cares. Is 6 hours a bit too long to leave it.
What do you do when it comes to nappy cares? Do you change the nappy before every feed religiously or alternate?
My question is how do you feed 4 babies on a 3 hr schedule and have time to chart a darn thing?
Excellent question. Every now and then you just don't. It sucks. If you have four babies who all take half an hour to eat and eat every three hours -- that's eight hours of a 12 hour shift just feeding kids. Doesn't account for assessments, cares, meds, baths, weights, labs, parent education, stocking supplies, attending deliveries, phone calls, charting... Our babies and families end up losing out. Luckily we usually have a mix of kids with gavage tubes on the intermediate nursery side; on the NICU side there's also the NPO babies, IV fluids, and those who are gavage only.
To answer the question, our babies are on q3 or q4 hour schedules, so we change that often at a minimum. More often as needed if the kiddo can tolerate the stimulation.
essT
101 Posts
Excellent question. Every now and then you just don't. It sucks. If you have four babies who all take half an hour to eat and eat every three hours -- that's eight hours of a 12 hour shift just feeding kids. Doesn't account for assessments, cares, meds, baths, weights, labs, parent education, stocking supplies, attending deliveries, phone calls, charting... Our babies and families end up losing out. Luckily we usually have a mix of kids with gavage tubes on the intermediate nursery side; on the NICU side there's also the NPO babies, IV fluids, and those who are gavage only.
To answer the question, our babies are on q3 or q4 hour schedules, so we change that often at a minimum. More often as needed if the kiddo can tolerate the stimulation.