Welcoming a newborn into the world is easy for parents. Lots of smiles, lots of tears, more than enough cuddles and touching to make a new arrival not only bond but respond.
For hospital staff, such new arrivals present both opportunities and problems. The opportunities for superior neonatal care extend from those first moments, when the attending physician gets baby to take its first breath, through testing for alertness and body functions. The initial assessment, called an Apgar test, is quickly followed by blood testing for PKU, hypothyroidism, galactosemia and sickle cell disease.
Baby Bassinets
Once a newborn is certified healthy, the time comes to place it in a hospital bassinet. These bassinets, designed to be ergonomically friendly to hospital staff and comfortable and safe for baby, are built on a patented "U" frame and feature stainless steel for optimum sterility.
Built for years of use, hospital bassinets are designed for total stability and feature securely welded support rods that enable a bassinet basket - the actual baby container - on the top and optional storage below. The most common model features two shelves, the first with a four-sided rail to prevent supplies from falling off, the second for linen and changing supplies.
At the bottom, oversized, 3-inch swiveling casters allow supreme ease of transportation, secure movement, and a locking mechanism for added security. Some models also provide a sliding shelf, or carriage, that provides an additional, nearly full-sized workspace.
Additional models provide drawers, mounted on tracks separate from the frame for added stability, and a frame-mounted, open-face storage cabinet consisting of one large drawer and two smaller ones. All hospital bassinets can usually be equipped with hypoallergenic, durable, comfortable pads for ultimate baby comfort and firmness, and all pads are completely washable and stain-resistant.