Frequently Asked Questions

Follow hospital guidelines for bathing if they are available and use your clinical judgment to determine if a bath will compromise an infant’s medical stability. See our Swaddle Bathing Clinical Practice Guideline for more information.

Absolutely! The current research recommends immersion bathing or swaddle bathing for healthy infants. Healthy babies should have their baths delayed:

i) AWHONN recommends giving the first bath between 6 and 24 hours of age.

ii) WHO recommends waiting at least 6 hours for the first bath.

Yes! Babies with NAS are comforted when swaddled and placed in warm water.  You can swaddle bathe daily for comfort but use cleanser only 2 to 3 times per week to avoid dryness. Swaddle bathing with the TurtleTub is an activity that the family can do with their infant while in the hospital. The family can continue to swaddle bathe once the infant goes home.

The TurtleTub is designed for premature infants and full-term newborns. On the small end – refer to #1 above. Full-term and larger pre-term babies fit perfectly in the TurtleTub too. The maximum size is: Crown-to-rump measurement is 15 inches (38cm) or total length approximately 23 inches (58 cm).

The water level should be no higher than the infant’s chest, so it will vary depending on the size of the infant.  The water usage range is between 1-2 gallons. The weight of the TurtleTub with water ranges between 10-18 pounds for 1-2 gallons of water, respectively. 

The fleece blanket can be re-used on multiple patients if it is laundered per your hospital protocol for “baby laundry.”  Please refer to the Laundering Recommendations on the TurtleTub Swaddle Bathing Blanket brochure. A clean supply of fleece blankets should always be available in your unit.

A swaddle bath is typically no longer than 7-10 minutes.  Monitor the water temperature throughout the bath to ensure the infant stays warm.

Schedule the first bath with the parents. Talk them through the procedure as you simply keep your hands on the baby’s head for comfort and safety. Infants typically calm during the bath, so parents enjoy doing it. It is one of the few “typical parenting activities” in the NICU. Consider scheduling bath days for the infant and reserve the bathing for the parents.   

As you teach parents bathing, a great opportunity presents itself for talking about infant development, calming strategies, bonding, and basic infant caregiving.  Swaddle bathing is a good time to get a sense of how comfortable a parent is with their infant so you can adjust your education. 

The TurtleTub comes as a kit with the fleece blanket, soap, rinse cup, scalp brush, and washcloths. Many items can be purchased separately. Please refer to our web site for ordering information.

The TurtleTub is designed as a single-patient use product unless it is used with our proprietary bath liners. For infection control purposes, a tub should not be used on more than one patient, unless our single-use liners are used.  Ideally a new TurtleTub is provided to each patient and the family can take the tub home at discharge. 

Cleaning for single-patient-use: Wash the TurtleTub with gentle soap and water and dry.

Cleaning for multi-patient-use: Discard TurtleTub liner. Wash the TurtleTub according to multi-patient hospital protocol. We recommend PDI Sani-Cloth Super (purple top) wipe to clean the tub.

The TurtleTub is covered under warranty for 1 year if used per the manufacturer's recommendations. We highly recommend replacing the TurtleTub after 1 year of use.