Angelica’s baby boy developed jaundice soon after his birth. Instead of having to be readmitted to hospital for treatment, he was treated at home using a portable phototherapy blanket, which was funded via a CW+ grant.
My baby was born on 7 March 2025 at the Portland. After two nights in hospital, we came home. Everything seemed fine at first, but then I noticed a bit of yellow around his nose. When the maternity nurses did their routine visit, they diagnosed him with jaundice. They said he needed to be admitted to the paediatric inpatient ward at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital to receive phototherapy treatment.
‘The nurses were the best’
Luckily, the PATCH [Providing Assessment and Treatment for Children at Home] team at Chelsea told us about the phototherapy blanket, which transfers light to a baby to treat neonatal jaundice. This meant we could stay at home rather than being admitted into hospital. The nurses were the best – they were really reassuring and explained exactly how to use it. It was super easy – we just plugged it in, laid the baby on top of it, and wrapped him up like a little burrito.
‘He looked like a mini superhero!’
He was in it when he was sleeping, when he was awake, when he was feeding. We just had to make sure he was wearing the special eye protector. He looked so funny – like a mini superhero, or someone having a spa treatment! After one day and two nights, his bilirubin level went back to normal and the yellow went away.
‘We were able to bond with him in the comfort of our home’
It was fantastic that we had the freedom to treat him at home – a real game-changer. Even leaving the house and making the journey to the hospital is not straightforward with a 10-day-old, and being admitted for several nights can be worrying and emotionally draining with such a tiny baby. We were able to bond with him in the comfort of our own home, and it meant that friends and family could visit too. It was a really positive experience overall.
‘It’s a great investment for staff as well as patients’
It’s great that CW+ was able to fund a blanket for each hospital. We feel very lucky to have been offered it – jaundice is common in newborns, so there might have been other people waiting for the blanket, or who had to be admitted for treatment because a blanket wasn’t available. Ultimately, the blankets mean fewer babies need to be treated in hospital, which frees up resources – so it’s a great investment for staff as well as patients and their families.
Thank you to the brilliant PATCH team at Chelsea!
In the year since the biliblanket was introduced at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, 26 babies have been treated at home, preventing 26 hospital admissions and saving more than 50 bed days in the paediatric wards. A second blanket, also funded by a CW+ grant, is now in use at West Middlesex University Hospital.
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