Devinenursem13

Good idea. I have reached out to our local Similac rep to see what she might have to say. FDA...that is interesting. We actually have started a research project in regards to diaper rash in our NICU. We are currently enrolling a prospective randomized trial comparing virgin coconut oil to our current standard of care for diaper rash :) We are listed on clinicaltrials.gov as well. So far it hasn't seemed to make a huge difference in our rashes but we are very young, just started enrollment 2 months ago. Thanks again for your input everyone.

My two cents and experiences are this: Prior to being a nurse I had a pre-hospital background (EMS) and thought I'd love working in the ER and it would be an easy transition, boy was I wrong. Sometimes you truly don't know what you want to do until you try it - so I learned the hard way. I then transferred to adult ICU and that was better but still not my thing. A few years later I then had the opportunity to transfer to the NICU and absolutely loved it. They will teach you the NICU way but I bet you'll find that your critical care background will VERY MUCH come in handy! No peds experience is necessary as peds and NICU are very different animals (mostly). Best of luck!

I've found that everyone that comes to our dept that doesn't know NICU is fascinated by our tiny b/p cuffs and diapers I know that's pretty basic but you could start there. Then have weight comparisons in gms (some people like to use cans of soda, rulers for length, etc). You'll keep their interest for sure!

Thanks to everyone for your input! What's puzzling to us is that Similac 'supposedly' does not use the acidification process, only heat to sterilize but I think you are right with the pH being low. I'd love to get some test strips to see! It's got to be something, we have seen a huge change and not for the better We have very very frequent diaper rash and some get so bad they are bleeding! Just wish we could figure this out, it's awful!

In our NICU we use the Medela sterilizer bags (other companies make them as well) we sterilize bottles, breast pump parts, nipple shields, etc and when I do a sterilization I throw the paci's in there as well. We don't have any set schedule unfortunately, just when we think about it - but seems to work great!

I work in a smaller community Level II+ NICU (we keep 30wks and above, short term vents, lots of CPAP, etc). Us nurses have seen an unbelievable amount of bad, bad diaper rashes in the past 2 years and it only seems to be getting worse no matter what we do. After trying many different changes with no improvement a few of us feel that it may be attributed to our liquid HMF. We use Similac products and we currently use their hydrolyzed protein liquid HMF packets for fortification of EBM. A few years ago, we had only the powdered packets, then Similac changed to a liquid and we were thrilled since we felt it mixed up way better than the powder. Then a year or two ago (can't remember exactly when) they changed to a different liquid (the hydrolyzed protein) and we have seen horrible bleeding butts. Related? Not positive but sure does seem that way. We see babes with no rash at all, we begin fortifying with HMF and within 2-3 days have horrible rashes - then switch to powdered formula (neosure, etc) to fortify when close to going home and rash goes away! So frustrating! Anyone else having these issues? I'd love to know, we're desperate! Thanks in advance!