1/3 With the so-called ‘Bambi Belt’, doctors and nurses can measure the baby’s heart rate and breathing without causing stress and pain.
The Máxima Medical Center in Veldhoven has achieved a world first. At the hospital they have a new way to monitor premature babies. This is done with the so-called ‘Bambi Belt’, a wireless strap that measures the baby’s heart rate and breathing. Anouk Boessen is overjoyed with the invention for her prematurely born daughter Senna. “Without all those wires I can hug her much easier.”
Anouk Boessen from Sint-Oedenrode gave birth to Senna twelve weeks prematurely. For the first four weeks the girl lay in an incubator covered with electrodes. “That looked very intense. The intensive care made a big impression anyway and then Senna was also on all kinds of wires. That was a bit of a shock.”
When the new mother was asked whether she wanted to participate in the trial with the Bambi Belt, she hesitated for a moment. “I was afraid that the strap might be very tight around her body. But once I felt it, I was quickly reassured.”
“We want to give the babies as little stress as possible.”
Senna is one of fifty babies participating in the trial at the Máxima Medical Center (MMC). The heart rate and breathing of these babies are measured for ten days with the Bambi Belt. The band is named after the company that made it: Bambi Medical.
Normally some kind of stickers are used to monitor the baby. But the skin of premature babies is very fragile and these stickers cause pain and stress. The wireless Bambi Belt should prevent that.
“We want to give the babies as little stress as possible, so we want to perform as few actions as possible on them. All those wires that we stick on the babies really get in the way,” says Heidi van de Mortel, nurse in the department for many premature babies.
“And we want parents to be able to care for their own baby more easily. Without all those wires, babies can be removed from the incubator more easily. Skin-to-skin contact between the baby and a parent also reduces stress.”
“This is really a Brabant invention.”
The Bambi Belt was developed by a professor from Eindhoven University of Technology who also worked at the Máxima Medical Center. The hospital therefore reaps the benefits of being located in one of the smartest regions in the world. “This is truly a Brabant invention. We try to work together with companies from the region to use technology to see how we can better help premature babies and parents,” says Van de Mortel proudly.
Work is even already underway on the successor to the Bambi Belt. “For example, we are working on a mattress that can measure heart rate and breathing. Then you may not have to do anything around the baby at all. That is still in the test phase, but that is the next step.”
In any case, Anouk is happy with it. “I can now take Senna out of the incubator much more easily and the contact feels much more natural without wires. When I picked her up, those wires were always in the way. And I was afraid they would get tangled. Now I can get extra from her to enjoy.”