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Ok, I know this has been brought up multiple times, but they are old posts. So: We have a set of triplets, (one didn't make it), but the other two girls are now in open cribs, no IV, on oxygen, Nippling and tube feeding. The nurse who had them today asked the Neo if we could co bed them, and she said that the AAP does not recomment cobedding anymore. Has anyone else heard of this?
We do it. I always wondered how good it really is for the babies. I feel like it's something that's done more for the parents so they can sit there and admire how adorable their babies are/look. If it really is good for the babies I would be all for it but it obviously shouldn't be done to save space or please the parents.
No more cobedding - this of Nothin' But Baby (I think this is throughout the US and not just in NE). They tell parents not to allow baby to sleep in the bed with them, or with other siblings. Here in Omaha, there was a recent newspaper article about 3 newborns deaths in February that resulted from cobedding. Scary
We used to allow cobedding in the NICU, but no more. Multiples are so stinkin cute cobedded too.
It makes sense though.
We do continue to co-bed in our NICU. In fact we just had this talk today in report...sending home a set of twins. They will also co-bed at home.
As we understand it the recommendations relate to baby and nursing mothers...or baby with older siblings.
We also talked about the use of blankets...and the doctors ok'd a wrapped blanket as long as it was past the infants shoulders.
The AAP does make a statement against co-bedding and it is not related to infection. It is more related to the back to sleep issue-nothing in the bed except the baby-no extra blankets or stuffed animals or toys. I guess they figure that babies in that close of proximity could be a potential SIDS problem if they are huddled very close together.
In our unit, we stopped co-bedding a long time ago. We do co-bedding if the parents request us to do so, even though we are trying to educate the parents on what is best according the the AAP.
We definitely do not co-bed on our unit. This comes primarily from a safe sleep focus rather than an infection, although both are probably valuable. Co-bedding with anyone, parents, older siblings, or multiples raises the risk for SIDS. Monitors don't prevent rebreathing or the beginning of suffocation, they just alert us before the worst occurs. Like a previous poster mentioned, parents tend to mimic what they see in the hospital, even if they are educated otherwise. I've heard of studies that demonstrate some physiological benefits of co-bedding, but somehow our singleton babies manage to handle life alone in bed. :) We tell parents that time in close contact with multiple siblings is valuable when infants are awake and under supervision.
We still co-bed all of the multiples who are stable, after their initial evals or intensive issues are resolved. All of our babies on monitors until they walk out the door.
Your babies walk out?? Wow! Most of ours go out in a corificeat. Sorry, I couldn't resist, it's 3 am and I'm at work.
chescat58, RNC-NIC
54 Posts
We currently are still cobedding however I know that in Neo Network, they just had a little article about cobedding and the AAP recommending against it.