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Open bed/incubator

Open bed/incubator

An incubator with no lid, to enable easy access to very sick babies. A radiant heater helps to warm up the incubator.

Robyn J with Saturation monitor attached to her left foot

A saturation monitor, have a lead, with an infra-red light probe attached to it. The probe is normally placed around the baby’s feet. The infra-red light detects the colour of the blood, and translates this information into a % of the O₂ levels in the bloodstream, which is displayed onto the meter. 

If the reading is to low, an alarm will sound and the staff will adjust the O₂ levels if baby is still on the ventilator, CPAP or Nasal. If baby is breathing on his own, he will receive additional O₂ to get his O₂ levels back up to a save standard.

The baby’s heart rate is monitored by a sensor stuck to his chest. The information is translated to a machine which displays the heart rate. The heart rate can also be displayed on the saturation monitor.

Heart beat as displayed on monitor

A Ventilator or respirator "breathes" for the baby who is too immature or unwell to breathe independently or effectively, by pushing oxygen rich air into his lungs. There are two sorts of mechanical ventilators:

One that does all the breathing in which case the baby is usually sedated.

One supplying baby triggered ventilation. Here the baby is able to breathe independently if he can, which is beneficial, but if he misses a beat or doesn’t breath deeply enough, the ventilator breathes for him or boosts his weak breaths.

Ventilator

CPAP:  Pressurized flow of oxygen rich air suits babies who need a little help to breathe, as it tops up their oxygen level and keeps their airways open. The air comes from a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device, it is moistened by a humidifier and delivered through nasal prongs - silicone tubes placed just under or in the nostrils.

CPAP Driver

Nasal:  Oxygen rich air suits babies who can breathe unaided but need extra oxygen. The Oxygen is blown into the baby’s nose through a fine plastic tube place in or below baby’s nose.

Michelle in a Head Box

Oxygen rich air suits babies who can breath unaided but need extra oxygen. This is either ducted simply into the incubator or into a Perspex head box over the baby’s head.

A skin temperature sensor can be stuck to a baby’s abdomen. This automatically regulates the incubator temperature and sound an alarm if it gets too hot or cold.

A baby, who can not yet feed by breast or bottle, is fed through a fine plastic feeding tube passed through the nose or mouth, down the gullet and into the stomach. Before every feed, the staff will check if all the food from the previous feeding has been digested and if anything is still in the stomach.

Any medication necessary like antibiotics would be given through a fine plastic line called an Intravenous (IV) line  A baby who can't digest food will be given liquid feeds via the IV line.

The line is attached to a meter, which monitors the amount of medication or food that is given per a certain amount of time. 

The line enters a vein in the arm, leg, scalp or umbilical cord. An arm or leg line is secured to the limb with tape and a rigid splint prevents the limb moving and dislodging it.

IV Line holder and monitor