Tips for a neat bed?

[change07]

Hi,

This may seem random, but I have been a NICU RN for awhile and still can't seem to get my bed to look as neat and rolls as tight as my coworkers.

Any tips?

Thanks!

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

Don't overdo it with the # of blankets, just use what you need.

- I usually fold 2 blankets in half, place one over the top half of the bed, one over the bottom, smooth tight, and tuck the sides in. I then fold a blanket in thirds top to bottom, and place longways across the bed under the baby from shoulders down. I then roll up each side toward the baby forming a "hammock"like nest. If the baby is swaddled, I just plop him in the middle of the hammock. The unit I'm in now doesn't use foam mattresses for each baby like my last job did, so we have to make beds out of towels and blankets. I'm not sure I've quite figured out the best way to do that yet, either.

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

Think Christmas presents - I fold a towel + blanket into the appropriate size rectangle. Then I place that in the center of another blanket (a soft one!) and fold the edges around it like a present. Then you don't have any corners or edges sticking out. Hard to describe without visual aids, but I hope that helps!

[lovemyjob]

OK, I am terribly proud of my rolls, so I am more then happy to share my technique.

OK, so, I take two blankets layer them on top of each other. Roll them long ways so that they are really tight. Take another one and roll it up with the other one, long ways. So, you have a long tubular shaped roll of blankets. Using a fourth blanket, begin to roll the tubular roll inside the fourth blanket. aWhen you get about half way down, take eacxh end of the roll and point it towards the edge so it is in a U shape. Then you fold the outer corners intowards the center and under the U shape. Take another blanket, fold it long ways into thirds and place it over the to "hammock" for a soft unwrinkled soft place for the head and trunk. The roll stays tight, the baby in a good position with good boundaries. Bed always looks neat and clean. I put a folded wachcloth under the feeding tube where it connects to the extension tubing. The cords get pushed just under the roll so they arent all over the bed. It is really hard to describe, but it looks neat.

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

It's funny how we have our own little way of doing something that seems so simple, yet is so hard to explain without pictures....Sometimes after a long shift, all I care about is that the kid is still breathing and his MAP is over 23.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

My tip is to keep the patient out of the bed... They really mess it up!!!!

[MegNeoNurse]

Okay this is not about how to make a baby bed correct but along the same lines....... thought it was kinda funny.

Today in clinicals (I am a last year nursing student) one of the other students I was with had a babe who peed all over himself and the bed while she was changing his diaper. She changed the bassinet like you would an adult bed. Tightly rolled the blanket and baby chucks on one side, rolled the 8# baby over the "bump" and tucked the other side back in. Maybe she has the right idea... but I think I've gotten pretty good at the one-handed bed-making or asking someone else to do it while you hold the babe or vice-versa.

Hehe thought I'd share.

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

Yeah, you can always seem to find someone to hold the baby while you change the bed, or just use the one-handed technique.

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

Yeah, you can always seem to find someone to hold the baby while you change the bed, or just use the one-handed technique.

My primary is super sick, and has been for a while. He's one of those diaphoretic PPHN kids, so you have to bathe him and change his clothes and bed every day, sometimes twice per shift. When he was on the oscillator, I got really good at changing his bed like an adult's. Today I had to weigh him, and I made the charge nurse and respiratory therapist help.

[RainDreamer, BSN, RN]

None of those make any sense lol!! I agree, it's impossible to explain without pictures. I'd try to explain how I do it, but it'd make no sense either! lol.

I'd ask some of your co-workers, that what I did when I first started, some of them made great bed rolls, so I asked them to teach me.

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

And the gall of some babies, the ones who wiggle around so much, the bed looks like you just threw them in it and shut the door... Or the ones who kick off their heelstick bandaids and make the bed look like you slaughtered a goat in there....

[palesarah]

Funny how something so simple has so many solutions. What we typically do: one blanket to completely cover the isolette mattress like a sheet, edges folded under. Second blanket, slightly smaller, to place baby on. We use cloth diapers to roll up for barriers- one for each side, 1 at the feet- and place those under the second blanket to make a little baby nest. We fold a cloth diaper in half and place under the baby's head (babies

We neaten up the edges of the second blanket however we can, so the diaper rolls can't be seen usually, but most importantly however is necessary to position the baby properly. Sometimes instead of diaper rolls I'll roll a regular receiving blanket into a roll and use that for the nest. Sometimes I add more diaper rolls on one side or the other. It all depends on the baby.

We can get really competitive about our beds, though, lol- it's kind of a running joke. The standard issue hospital receiving blankets are white with bunnies. Once the baby is stabilized (or stable enough) and clean, we usually change the blankets to something cute and matching, or at least clean bunny blankets is the nice blankets are all in the laundry (sometimes happens on the weekends). And a pox is wished on any nurse silly enough to make a bed with the bunnies facing the "wrong" way or with unmatching blankets, lol. Some people truely can't get through the shift without changing the bed if the bunnies are in the wrong direction! I think the NICU attracts a lot of us with little OCD traits, like that