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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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babytime_ipad.jpg
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles has debuted (via TUAW) a new iPad program that allows mothers who are not able to visit with their newborn babies in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to connect with them via a video chat on multiple iPads, dubbed BabyTime.

The program is available to mothers who undergo cesarean sections or other complications during pregnancy and will receive an iPad while the partner iPad will be set up next to the baby's incubator in the NICU. Mothers will be able to virtually visit their babies on a secured Internet connection twice a day.
"BabyTime will help bridge communication with the family and the baby's medical team and is an excellent use of technology to help new mothers bond with their babies, even when they cannot be physically at their babies' bedside," said Charles F. Simmons Jr., MD, chair of the Cedars-Sinai Department of Pediatrics and Ruth and Harry Roman Chair in Neonatology. "When doctors and nurses are treating a newborn in the NICU, mom can be right there asking questions and getting updates, even if she's on a different floor."
Simmons estimated that 20 to 30 percent of mothers who undergo c-sections do not feel well enough to travel to meet their babies in the NICU. The goal of the program is to reduce any stress or fear that mothers may have about their new babies, while allowing the mothers to communicate with doctors and nurses.

Article Link: Hospital Uses iPads to Connect Mothers With Newborn Babies
 

Dainin

macrumors regular
Sep 4, 2009
211
161
Looks to me like setting up a webcam would be easier than having a second nurse stand there and aim it. This would be viewed by the mother on an iPad.
 

locoboi187

macrumors 6502a
Oct 3, 2012
711
375
Rather have the baby in the hands of the mother. Screw that virtual stuff and the whole "not allowed to touch the newborn" crap :p
 

Amazing Iceman

macrumors 603
Nov 8, 2008
5,242
3,987
Florida, U.S.A.
Rather have the baby in the hands of the mother. Screw that virtual stuff and the whole "not allowed to touch the newborn" crap :p

If the baby is in the incubator, for obvious reasons shouldn't be unnecessarily touched by anyone including the mother.

Great idea, while also preparing future iPad users...
Babies will feel helpless without an iPad in their crib! Heheh!
 

64Mario64

macrumors regular
Mar 14, 2013
192
2
Can you say "iPad"? "iPad"?

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Holy cow, what happened to the baby in the picture?! Looks like a squeezed head.
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,544
6,042
Great idea, while also preparing future iPad users...
Babies will feel helpless without an iPad in their crib! Heheh!

Apple stockholders rejoice as people are addicted to Apple's products at ever younger ages. (That's why AAPL is up 1% today.)

Next up, fetuses will receive iPod Touches after being in the womb for 12 weeks. They'll be able to initiate "FetusTime" with their pregnant mothers at any time up until, and even during, birth.
 

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
This is all well and good at first: see your baby on-screen twice a day. But eventually you're still going to have to touch the hideous thing! Again and again. Day after day after day. This is at best a very limited solution to the baby problem.
 

Swift

macrumors 68000
Feb 18, 2003
1,825
964
Los Angeles
Look at the eyes

Isn't there something demented about these nurses -- I'm sure it's just a bad picture, but LOOK!
 

Amazing Iceman

macrumors 603
Nov 8, 2008
5,242
3,987
Florida, U.S.A.
apple stockholders rejoice as people are addicted to apple's products at ever younger ages. (that's why aapl is up 1% today.)

next up, fetuses will receive ipod touches after being in the womb for 12 weeks. They'll be able to initiate "fetustime" with their pregnant mothers at any time up until, and even during, birth.

lol! :D

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That's wonderful. Not!? :rolleyes:

iPad, iPad Mini and the new iPad Baby! :D

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Isn't there something demented about these nurses -- I'm sure it's just a bad picture, but LOOK!

Now the Mom will be able to see when a nurse flips and starts beating the baby or doing things not supposed to do.
 

theheadguy

macrumors 65816
Apr 26, 2005
1,156
1,385
california
Rather have the baby in the hands of the mother. Screw that virtual stuff and the whole "not allowed to touch the newborn" crap :p
Watch out boys, another armchair doctor here. Perhaps the mother is ill, or the newborn-- did that "crap" occur to you?. They don't separate mothers and newborns unless it's necessary now.
 

Carlanga

macrumors 604
Nov 5, 2009
7,132
1,409
Looks to me like setting up a webcam would be easier than having a second nurse stand there and aim it. This would be viewed by the mother on an iPad.

why do you want to buy a webcam, just get a nice holder that can rotate as needed.
 

RobQuads

macrumors regular
Jul 11, 2010
234
48
Rather have the baby in the hands of the mother. Screw that virtual stuff and the whole "not allowed to touch the newborn" crap :p

As someone who has just spent 8 weeks with their twins in special care anything they can do to make it better is great news. There are so many reasons why the mum can't be there may of which I witnessed.
 

jm001

macrumors 6502a
Sep 19, 2011
596
123
Looks to me like setting up a webcam would be easier than having a second nurse stand there and aim it. This would be viewed by the mother on an iPad.

Webcam that has to be attached to a computer or the built-in one on a laptop? Hence the use of the less cumbersome and smaller footprint iPad. In reality the hospital probably has some mount or stand for the iPad.
 

r2shyyou

macrumors 68000
Oct 3, 2010
1,758
13
Paris, France
As someone who has just spent 8 weeks with their twins in special care anything they can do to make it better is great news. There are so many reasons why the mum can't be there may of which I witnessed.

Exactly. We didn't spend very long in special care with our son, at least compared with you, but this would've been very relieving and comforting to have had we not been able to be with him. Given the choice to either see him on a screen or to not see him at all, we would've chosen the screen without hesitation. Luckily for us, it didn't come to that. Kudos to the hospital for trying. And best of luck to you and your twins.
 

mtfbwy

macrumors member
Apr 29, 2005
47
4
I had a child who spent 3+ month in the ICU and stuff like this is invaluable. The NICU usually also has very restricted visiting hours.

I led development on a much better system that is currently deployed at Texas Health in Houston. Our system has permanently mounted IP cameras and speakers so the parents can interact with premature babies in incubators. This setup with ipads seems like a hassle for hospital staff. Our system allows mobile and web-based access to the camera.
 

jmdeegan

macrumors member
Aug 17, 2007
96
1
As someone who, between micro-preemie triplets spent over 6 months in the NICU, i have mixed feelings on this.

my wife and i got up to see them as much as possible while she was still in the hospital, in spite of the C-section and other fun stitching she endured. i wheeled her up in a wheel chair the first morning, but pretty sure by the 2nd day she was hell bent on getting up on her own (thats what bed rest will do to you).

where something like this would be nice, i think, is those other like 12 hours a day that one of us wasn't bedside. so we could see them before we went to sleep, or when we woke up. as it was, we called their nurses when we woke up and before bed to get our usual status reports, and spent pretty much all day every day there.

anything to get to see more of your baby isn't necessarily a bad thing.

tho, for most babies in the NICU, the stock photo they used is not really indicative. baby looks like they are just about ready to go home, and the isolette isn't in there at all.
 
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