Hygiene guide

If your baby is being cared for in an observation room, the visit should always be coordinated in advance with staff. When there are a lot of infections in the wider community, we may need to impose a visiting ban for siblings and relatives. If, as a parent, you catch a cold or have an infection during the time your baby is in hospital, we ask you to consult the staff regarding what measures to take.

Before you enter the ward

• Remove any outerwear
• Remove any bracelets, watches and rings
• Wash and disinfect your hands and forearms
• Parents are responsible for ensuring that siblings wash and disinfect their hands and forearms
• Wear indoor shoes or slippers when you are on the ward (do not go barefoot or wear socks)

The baby's room

• Always disinfect your hands before entering the baby's room
• If you drop an object belonging to your baby on the floor, it should be replaced, washed or discarded
• For hygiene reasons, soft toys or your own blankets must not be placed in the cot or incubator
• Talk to the staff if you want to put personal belongings in the baby's room
• Disinfect your hands every time you leave the baby's room
• The family room is also a hospital room
• Always disinfect your hands before entering the family room
• Fold up the sofa bed, alternatively make the sofa bed and make sure as many surfaces as possible are free from clutter. Then the hospital's cleaning staff will be able to clean properly.
• Limit the number of personal belongings in the family room to facilitate accessibility and cleaning
• Remove your dirty dishes after meals, empty the waste bin and take dirty laundry to the designated location
• The hospital's own textiles, NIDCAP blankets, cot bumpers and baby carriers are washed on the ward by staff
• Disinfect your hands every time you leave the family room

The parents' kitchen

• Disinfect your hands when you enter the parents' kitchen
• Clean and tidy the kitchen after you. Wash your dishes or put them in the dishwasher when you have finished your meal
• Disinfect your hands every time you leave the parents' kitchen
• Using a breast pump and handling breast milk
• Disinfect your hands before using a breast pump to express milk
• Then take the component parts of the breast pump: the collection bottle, flanges and other parts of the pump set and assemble them
• Put the collection bottle containing the expressed breast milk on a cooling plate or in a refrigerator
• Rinse the parts of the breast pump with cold water and leave them in the designated place
• Disinfect your hands after using the breast pump

Skin care

During the time your baby is in hospital, we encourage you to have skin-to-skin contact with your baby as much as possible. Therefore, your own hygiene is important:

• Shower every day and avoid using strong fragrances
• Baby carriers that have been borrowed can be returned to the staff for regular washing

Your baby's care

It is important for your baby that you, as parents, participate in its care. In the beginning, you will need support from the staff, but eventually you can take over the day-to-day care to an increasing extent.

• Always disinfect your hands before participating in your baby's care
• Put dummies, comfort blankets and food in the upper part of the cot or incubator as it is considered to be the cleaner part
• Put items that will be washed in the lower part of the cot or incubator
• Make sure to disinfect your hands again if you have been in contact with surfaces or objects where there is a lot of bacteria, such as mobile phones, footrests or refuse or laundry bags
• Spray your hands again after caring for your baby
• Changing your baby's diaper
• Wash the baby's bottom with lukewarm water when the baby has defecated
• Put the used disposable wipes and dirty diaper in a plastic bag immediately or throw them in a refuse bin
• Disinfect your hands before putting a clean diaper on the baby
• Disinfect your hands again after changing the baby's diaper

Day-to-day care

• Wash your hands with lukewarm water
• When you wash your baby, start with the face and upper body and finish with the bottom
• When the staff think that your baby is stable enough to bathe, you can bathe your baby 1-2 times per week

Together, we can avoid spreading infection

Viruses and bacteria are everywhere in our environment. They can be spread by hand contact. In order to reduce the risk of spreading infection, you will find hand disinfectant in numerous places on the ward and around the hospital.

Wash your hands when they look or feel dirty. Disinfect your hands after you have washed and dried your hands. Use hand disinfectant frequently inbetween washing your hands.

By practising good hygiene we can avoid spreading infection on the ward Therefore, it is important to follow the ward's hygiene rules

Please ask us if you have any questions!