new idea...maybe for some

[seanymph]

I am currently on a mother/baby unit on at a nonprofit hospital and we are not allowed to have the nice peri-pad icepacks that all the postpartum moms like because they are too expensive. Most of the moms will use the "ice gloves" once because they are bulky and messy. The other night when we got report from a new L&D nurse she told us about taking the diapers and making a slit at one end then inserting icedown the center. This holds the absorbtion of water and lochia obviously and stays cool longer and covers more of the perineum. They are also less bulky. We have been passing word amongst the staff and have not brought it to clinical mgr. attention yet. We wanted to get patient response which is has been overwheming in favor. Our patients are now willing to keep ice to the swollen perineum. I had a patient last night that had a staff member who had not heard of the new ice diapers yet and had been given the old ice glove. She wore it once and refused more because of comfort and mess. I talked her into trying the new technique and she thought it was great and kept fresh ones on all night and by this AM was signnificantly less swollen. I know those managers out there reading these have to keep in budgets, but you also need to keep things like this in mind. Sorry this is so long, but I hope it helpd someone else and their patients.:)

[Anagray, BSN]

sounds like a good idea! I think i'll go stock up on some cheap diapers for my own delivery lol!

Thanks!

[imenid37]

wehad a midwife speaker from another hospital last november that told us about this and frozen peri pads too. both work well. i like the diaper better myself

[AlaskaKat]

We have the ice pack peri pads and they are nice but for those unfortunate women that need "big ice", I always use the diaper, it works great!

[mark_LD_RN]

I have used the diaper ,some patients like them some don't. some prefer the 1/2 filled ziploc bag of ice wrapped in a washcloth instead. as far as the fancy chemical cold peri pads, they are expensive do not get very cold are do not work as well as good old ice:)

[SmilingBluEyes]

we used the diapers some...some like it some don't. We like to use ice-filled gloves, covered with an OR cap (you can fit 2 or even 3 ice-filled gloves in an OR scrup cap/showerhat)---and then we wrap this in the aloe baby wipes we have here. (they are quite large from medline company I think). The aloe is soothing, the wipes smell VERY clean and good and very little leakage ever occurs this way. I have repeat requests for these nonchargeable ice packs all the time. We have not used those silly expensive and basically useless premade icepacks in eons where I work.

[Sarah, RNBScN]

Put peri pads in the freezer. That's what we do on our unit. It's been around for some time.

It worked for me....relief!!!

[imenid37]

sarah that's the kind of peri pads our speaker suggested. they are good, but i like the diapers a little better. both are cheaper and better than chem ice.

[Dayray, RN]

I don't think the chem packs are even worth useing , they dont get cold at all. Sometimes right after delivery Ill use the glove reapped in curlex but have the same problems everyone else has mentioned.

If you take a new born diaper wet it just a littel and put it in the frezer for an hour .. it makes a really nice ice pack. Its nice and cool but it does'nt feel like frost bite like the gloves can.

[Browneyedgirl]

Ok, this thread is really interesting and I guess I'm going to show that SouthArk is backwoods and behind the times.

Our hospital only uses heat lamps on the perineum postpartum.

If I remember correctly, 2 sessions, hours ( as in the next day) pp, for maybe 15-30 minutes at a time ( I'm a HORRIBLE estimator of time).

So, when does the ice pack therapy begin?

How long are the sessions?

When do they end?

[seanymph]

The aloe wipes do sound soothing, but unfortunately this hospital doesn't give the mom's any baby wipes, we use like 4x4's and wet them. It is all very basic, and this is in a big city.

[Buggs]

We use glove ice, wrapped in a washcloth or a dry wipe-like thing. We recently got re-stocked with plastic bags that are like the ziplock bag idea. Our techs fill them with water and freeze them. The frozen peri pad things were trialed but never became a standard. Cost vs. comfort always seems a priority. The use of a diaper was used, but so long ago, I can't remember why "they" made us stop that practice. Seems we have come full circle to the old glove ice. And I must add, I am suprised to hear the heat lamp is still being used. That was "old school" back 15 years ago. Is that coming back?:)