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What Is Incubator Care in Neonates?

While many babies are born healthy, others are born preterm or low-weight. Incubation improves care for babies in critical condition and thus helps ensure their survival. In medical terms, a newborn or a baby less than 28 days old is called a neonate; consequently, the area of the hospital that cares for seriously ill babies is called the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

  1. Incubators

    • An incubator is basically a controlled micro-environment where the baby's needs are all met and vital signs can be carefully monitored. The incubator provides oxygenation or even mechanical ventilation (in cases of respiratory failure), optimum temperature, humidity and fluid balance, isolation from infection, and constant observation of heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature or any other signs that might indicate a problem.

    Types

    • Babies that need to be transported between hospitals or from one area of the facility to another are often carried in an incubator; for this reason, many incubators are designed with portability in mind. Some incubators are double-walled to provide better insulation. The most popular type of incubator is the servo-control incubator, which incorporates a number of automated functions. A servo-type incubator automatically adjusts conditions based on the neonate's temperature, heart rate and other vital signs and sounds an alarm if the baby's condition indicates a serious problem.

    Open-Care Systems

    • Open-care systems offer an alternative to incubator care. In an open-care system the baby's cot is heated with an overhead radiant warmer; heat shields and plastic wrap are often used to help control conditions. These systems have some advantages in that they offer easier access to the baby, although it's more difficult to ensure constant thermoregulation. Studies have tried to determine which method of care is more effective, but the evidence remains unclear.

    Benefits

    • Incubators afford the baby a comfortable and carefully controlled environment; further, they also make it possible to keep babies in critical condition under more or less constant observation. Better incubators and other improvements in newborn care have contributed to the dramatic decline in U.S. infant mortality over the last four decades of the 20th century.

    Considerations

    • In recent years there's been a greater emphasis on permitting parent involvement and interaction with the baby, unless the baby is too frail or ill for all but the most limited contact. It's important that babies in critical condition be carefully monitored and that the incubator be regularly cleaned; it should be disinfected between occupants. Incubators are designed so that the baby can be seen at all times.

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