Goodbye, cruel Wallaby 3 phototherapy blanket (i.e. “Billi Blanket”)
Ok, so Isaac had a mild case of jaundice that set in on day 3. It was bad enough that the hospital wanted to send us home with a “billi blanket” which is a sort of blue light that you wrap around the baby to break down the jaundice. Thats all well and good, and we want him to be healthy, but this whole billi blanket thing turned out to be a total nightmare. Here’s the story.
On the day we were scheduled to check out of the hospital, they told us that his billirubin levels were “borderline” and that they wanted to send us home with a billi blanket. Great, no problem. But, they said that the light was actually supplied by a 3rd party rental company, and that we’d have to wait for it to be delivered. It was about 10am when we started waiting. (We were due to check out at about 11). We waited and waited — in fact, didn’t actually leave the hospital until almost 6pm! And, when the delivery guy arrived, he was completely clueless about how to use the thing. He didn’t deliver it with its “cover” and actually gave us incorrect instructions on how to use it. All the while, the hospital staff and he were saying “you need to keep your baby in this 24 hours a day.” Are you kidding? We need to keep our 3 day old breastfeeding baby hooked up to a hard plastic light with a 3/4″ plastic tube hanging out of it all day long? How do we change his diapers? How to we feed him? How do we keep the thing on? (It had no straps, velcro, or similar stuff to keep it in place). No one demonstrated what to do.
So, we get home, we eat dinner with friends, and we bring him upstairs to give it a try. Screaming, screaming, and more hysterical screaming. Then, the flailing begins and the hours of dilligent swaddling, shushing, rocking and comforting culminate in the entire thing falling right off. Just to give you a feel for what this thing was like — its about 14″ long, 4″ wide, and was made out of a stiff plastic that just wanted to be flat. Oh, and it had a giant 4 foot long tube coming out of one end. So, we try swaddling him, we try putting it under his clothes (for about 30 seconds, that is) and we try a few other things and realize that there must be something we’re missing. We hadn’t gotten the fabled “covers” yet (to be delivered the next day) and we had a doctors appointment in the morning, so we decided to just wait and have the doctor show us how to use it.
So, morning comes, we head to the Dr.’s office, with the kid & billi blanket it tow. He tells us we need to be using it 24 hours a day. We say “please show us how to use it — this thing is totally impossible to use.” His response? “Its the rental equipment providers job to instruct you on how to use the device. I’ve not seen this model before and I can’t help you.” ARE YOU SERIOUS? Let it be said that now that the jaundice is over, we won’t be returning to this doctor. We were furious.
So, we get home, and with new resolve and the help of the “Miracle Blanket” we actually get him all wrapped up and sleeping in the billi blanket. Whew! Do we keep it on during feedings and his awake time? No way. Its just not realistic, in fact, just not possible. He screams bloody murder during every waking moment in that thing, and we weren’t going to subject him to that. I’m not even sure that feeding while that thing was wrapped around him was possible, he was so hysterical. So, we do the best we can, he sleeps with the light, and has a blood test the next day. Yay! His billirubin had gone down!
We spent the next 2 days doing the same thing, wrapping with the Miracle Blanket and the Billi Blanket at the same time while he sleeps. Other times, we gave him a break. By Friday (4 days of phototherapy) his billirubin levels were low enough that the doctor said we didn’t need to use the “blanket” anymore! Hooray for Isaac!
The moral of the story?
Although the design of the “Wallaby 3″ phototherapy blanket by Respironics sucks, it worked.
Apria Healthcare appears to be full of a bunch of incompetent morons.
Our first attempt at picking a Pediatrician failed miserably.
Isaac is healthy!
P.S. As an engineer, I’d like to leave some feedback for Respironics, the makers of the Wallaby 3 phototherapy blanket:
1. Include written instructions with the unit. Detail exactly how to wrap the baby securely with the light, using several different types, shapes, and styles of blanket, onesie, etc.
2. Don’t just provide a “tissue paper” cover. You need to manufacture an entire cloth swaddling blanket that fits around the phototherapy light and makes it easy to wrap the kid in the light. At least 2 of these should be included with the unit.
3. Make a longer cord! The existing cord length (~4 feet) was barely enough to reach from the power supply to the baby. I’d say 8 feet long — long enough to reach from the power supply to the crib and to a nearby chair used for breastfeeding.
4. Make the cord easier to detach & reattach. I know you think its simple the way it is, but you haven’t tried using it at 2:30am when you’re running on 2 hours of sleep.
5. Do some user testing! Its so clear to me that this is a piece of “technology” and not a user tested device. Do some user tests, and do whatever your test subjects tell you.
First off, congrats on the new addition!
Glad to hear everything is okay with the little tyke!
We had our baby 3 weeks ago, also has jaundice when they sent us home… our mid-wife’s instructions: Make sure you take him out in the sun every day, when he naps try and put him near a window so he gets some light on him. Not direct sunlight in either case, he can burn easily, but “in the light.”
Sure enough, 3 days later, no more jaundice.
We’re using the Wallaby 3 right this very moment. Yes it is a little cumbersome, but quite honestly much of the troubles you described are a bit exaggerated! It is a flat fiber-optic pad. Our baby (3 days old) is laying on it without any fuss. Yes the Apria guy said to “wrap” it around the baby, but the instructions actually say to just lay the baby on it.
Anyway, the important thing is that it works. We’ll go in for another bilirubin test tomorrow to hopefully see a decline.
Actually, there are two different pad models. One wraps around, one is designed to be used with a “vest” that wraps around the baby and has sticky tabe to hold it in place. The pad that wraps around has velcro closures. Apria is full of idiots, but the blanket is a far cry better than a billi bed. The one by Medela is like a baby straight jacket, and it requires that baby lay totally flat and velcroed in…
We had to use it with our kid three years ago, and it absolutely works. And I certainly sympathize with several of your frustrations… however, let me shed some light on some of those things (no pun intended). First of all, whoever said he has to be on it 24-hours a day non-stop is an idiot. Of course you need to take it off from time to time in case the kid $#!+s himself, but its not like if you remove it for a minute that the entire treatment is null & void – the more the better is all. Taking the thing off for feedings sounds unnecessary. We have pictures of our “glowworm” of a baby being fed by mommy as I’m shoveling food into her mouth. Using the miracle blanket was the approach we took as well and it worked fantastically – I don’t recall any issues with wrapping the lights around the kid. The only nuisance that we had was the four-foot cord. However, my electronics/lighting experience tells me that its probably something that’s not overcomeable. The wallaby is essentially a fluorescent light source that works off of high frequencies – and running high frequency power over any real length of wire (and three or four feet is usually the recommended maximum) at the levels its pushing can start to cause problems. So, it may have been somewhat of a nuisance, but consider the alternativie, if they hadn’t invented what they had invented, the kid would’ve been stuck at the hospital under a tanning bed for another three-four days – THAT would’ve been inconvenient.
Wow. great information, thank you all. We have just started the Wallaby 3 apparatus on our 3-day -old son who is jaundiced. My thoughts:
the pad is stiff, and my little guy just wont have it wrapped around him, try just him laying on it and buffer him with rolled cloths.(or blankets)
the nice thing is that the unit runs so hot, that the room is quite warm, and we dont need extra wrappings or blankets while he ison the pad.
we go in tomorrow to see if his bilirubin test has gone down from 16. hope this info helps. update to come.
Congrats!
Here’s a few tips we’ve discovered.
1. Make sure you have enough sleeves and change them daily. Make sure the thin side of the sleeve is positioned correctly (inside vs outside)- we got instructions. The idea is to let the light through. Buffering the baby can nullify the effect.
2. Forget the tape which is included. It only sticks to itself and loses its stickiness after a few diaper changes. The visiting nurse recommeded duct tape which may be a bit extreme. We used shipping tape from the postal service. It looked like we were trying to ship the baby, but it worked great!
3. Take a onesie and roll it up under their arms so it provides a cushion for their armpits and then the plastic won’t discomfort them.
4. I agree with the need for the longer cord, but I’m sure there is an good engineering reason for it to be that length (see above).
5. They could use a quieter fan. This one sounded like PC technology from about 10 years ago. Newer ball-bearing fans are whisper quiet and won’t keep you or the baby awake at night.
Overall, the thing worked great. After discontinuing its use on a newborn for 3 days, we treated the baby to some indirect sunlight which also helped.
You left out the part about the $1500/day cost….
For some reason ours isn’t having any trouble with her’s. I hate these kinds of interventions nonetheless. Studies say sunlight should do the trick too – but everyone seems to say sunlight is the worst thing for infants. Its been a little too cold to take her our in the sun unfortunately.
I just wanted to leave my thoughts on this. I absolutly hate it, but I agree it’s alot better than spending time at the hospital were you can’t really be with them 24/7. I feel bad for the person who had to pay $1500 a day. We only have to pay $96.00 a day. It is such an inconvience b/c we are confinde to two rooms in the house. Our daughter is only 4 days old and she is so fussy b/c of this. The stupid tape doesn’t work and we had to find an alternative. It works alot better. I feel like my lil “glowworm” is being tortured. I was told that she was going to be on a “blanket” so when I was told that I figured that it was just something that we laid ontop or under her. We agree about leaving it on 24 hours. We live at least 45 min from the hospital and she is off it for at least 2 hours. We didn’t like taking it off of her after that b/c we were told to keep it on. Needless to say she had it off for about 30 mins after we got back home b/c she was so fussy with it on. Tomorrow is our 3rd testing day and we hope that it came down so she doesn’t have to be a “glowworm” anymore.
I read some of these posts and am amazed at why as a parent you would not want to keep your baby on the phtotherapy as much as possible. When our son was on the Wallaby – we were very compliant. Obvisouly when changing a diaper we had to remove the device, and to bath him… but my wife experienced no problems with breast feeding… the panel was rigid – but the homecare provider instructed us to use the cover provided… and to secure it in place with a t-shirt. We rocked the baby, etc. As for Slacy’s comments calling the Wallaby cruel. I disagree. Is it the most comfortable? Probably not, however would you rather have a baby with Kernicterus? Look it up and stop whining. Also, you “had dinner with friends, then went upstairs to give it a try?” I see you have your baby’s health and BRAIN at the top of your priories.
Now some clinical questions. If your baby needed phototherapy – and you were stuck at the hospital for so long waiting discharge – why was the baby not under phototherapy lights? Did you ask? The Apria we used in West Palm Beach FL gave us a parents guide and a video. I just looked online and Respironics (although a manufacturer) has learning materials as well as a phone number for parents. The tech even explained to us that we needed to make sure the baby was hydrated – and to expect some funky looking stools – since this is the way the body eliminates bilirubin. You seem to be taking your frustrations out on the manufacturer. It is sad you were not educated appropriately. But then again, you may have been but were too concerned about dinner with friends. Good luck as a parent.
I feel a bit compelled to reply to the previous poster, who raised some pretty good points.
High billirubin levels are a serious condition, and we know this. But, the doctors at the hospital was telling us that our son had “borderline moderate” levels, and that they were sending us home with the Billi blanket as a “safety measure” to make sure that his levels go down as expected. And, at the same we were getting the conflicting advice of “24/7 no matter what don’t remove the blanket” from the people at Apria. Given a choice, I’m going to believe my doctors, not the delivery person from Apria.
Secondly, I want to respond to the “dinner with friends”. Clearly, you don’t know the situation here, and that was frankly none of your business to comment about, but I’ll clarify here anyway. Some friends had graciously brought us a pre-cooked meal for the day we got home with our newborn son, so we spent 10 minutes wolfing down some lasagne. Remember the advice to take care of yourself first? Anyway, enough of this.
What I’m most frustrated about is that no one gave us proper instructions on how to use this thing, and no one (not even our new pediatrician at the time) would tell us exactly what we should be doing. How do we wrap him? What if he won’t sleep with it on? What if he won’t eat with it on? Should it be on 24/7, or is it better to have him outside in diffuse light during the day? There are a million questions, and, like you said, this can be a serious illness, and should be treated as such.
If I had to guess, I think that the hospital didn’t put him under the “big lights” because his billirubin levels were “boderline”. I think the doctors weren’t communicating with us that the situation was serious because it probably wasn’t that serious in our case. Additionally, I think they know how quickly (or slowly) the billirubin levels rise, and we were going in for blood tests on a daily basis.
So, in summary: Treat high billirubin levels seriously. Find a good doctor. Find a good hospital. Get advice from every medical professional you can, and if you’re still not comfortable with the situation, then keep asking. Your child’s health is nothing to take seriously.
Our son (mentioned in this story) is now 2.5 years old, is happy, healthy, and growing up more quickly than we had ever imagined. His 6-month old sister had a very mild case of jaundice, which was not enough to warrant the use of a billi blanket. Both kids are beautiful and wonderful additions to our lives.
This is a very sensitive subject. The machine certainly does a lot of good and has probably saved many babies from Kernicterus. That alone should make any parent with a baby suffering from jaundice grateful. That being said, the machine is horrible.
So first we tried safety pins – pretty effective but tough to put on and off so we tried changing and feeding with it on. Let’s just say it didn’t work. After a day I thought to cut a slit in a cheap onesie from the armpit to the waist the width of the light panel. Slide it through and let the onesie do most of the work for you!
The four-foot python cord and the crappy light panel on the end of are enough to drive a worried parent mad. Sure, it’s just the right size to wrap around the baby – if you can sit there and hold the ends together all day other than feeding and changing. And yes, its better to wrap it because you are exposing 3x the amount of skin to the light than just having your baby lay on it. Anyway it stinks. Make the panel clippable from one end to the other. And make the covers washable. Come on. Good luck everyone.
Hi. Anyone want to sell us their Wallaby 3 phototherapy blanket?!!!
I’m not sure why you would want to purchase one of these. I think almost everyone rents them (for ~7 days) from Apria Healthcare, and since the blanket is “prescribed” by a doctor, then your health insurance should cover the cost.
If you don’t have health insurance and your baby needs phototherapy, I would recommend reading this article: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120711884/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
Especially the part that says: “Conclusion: Data revealed that sunlight is almost 6.5 times more effective than a phototherapy unit when operating at the ward geometry after taking isomerization efficiency and area of exposure into consideration. Moreover, sunlight is still more effective during the winter season, when its intensity is lower. Thus, sunlight may be considered an alternative phototherapy source for the treatment of neonatal jaundice, particularly in areas where conventional phototherapy units are unavailable.”
Thanks, Steve, for the info on sunlight vs. phototherapy.
I’m actually looking into a phototherapy system for veterinary purposes. A bit unconventional, but it may be helpful reducing bilirubin levels in small animals with liver abnormalities.
That’s a great idea Cindi! I think your best bet for a simple solution would be to get a high power full spectrum light source, similar to what they use for marine aquariums. These are fairly inexpensive (~$200) and should be nearly as beneficial as sunlight for animal use. Take a look at lights like these: http://www.marinedepot.com/lighting_metal_halide_hamilton_reefsun_bell_pendants-ap.html Please be very careful putting any animal under a light like this, as it could cause burns due to heat (they’re very hot at close range) or sunburn, or even possibly some kind of eye damage for newborns.
For neonatal use, full spectrum lights (and sunlight) are avoided because of the possibility of sunburn and other issues, which shouldn’t be as much of a concern in your case. Also, I did read a bunch of literature that said that green was the most effective color for treating jaundice, but that people didn’t like the “sickly look” that green light causes, so they use blue instead. Go figure.
So you have an internet connection just to complain about things? It is an unlimited resource of information, yet you didn’t once think to use it to investigate how to use a relevant tool for your child?
You cannot be serious…An imbecile could figure these out…I’d move to a smarter area.
Wow, I’m perplexed by how this thread has gone from informative and supportive to hostile and abusive. I support free speech, so I’m not going to delete the previous post.
I’m sorry that you didn’t find any useful information here. Many others have complained about the difficulty of using the phototherapy blankets, so I’m sure I’m not alone in my experience.
hi — just wanted to offer one other idea for working with the phototherapy blanket — there’s a type of gauze that sticks to itself — I used it in a criss-cross across my baby’s torso and it kept the blanket on nice and snug. (When we just wrapped it straight around her, it had a tendency to ride up and chafe under her armpits.)