Clothing in the NICU: What Parents and Nurses Need

In the NICU, clothing is a small thing that carries a lot of weight. It is often the first ordinary baby thing a parent gets to do, and it has to work around lines, leads, monitors, and care that happens around the clock.

This guide is for parents and for the nurses who support them. It covers what NICU clothing has to work around, what to look for, and how to plan for going home. It is written from an engineering point of view. Your baby's NICU team decides when and how clothing is used, and their guidance always comes first.

Contents

• When clothing enters the picture
• What NICU clothing has to work around
• Features that matter most
• For parents
• For nurses
• Sizing small babies
• Planning for going home
• A checklist for any garment

When clothing enters the picture

Every NICU has its own practices, and every baby is different. Your baby's nurses will tell you when your baby can wear clothes, what kinds are allowed on the unit, and how clothing fits with the rest of your baby's care. Ask them. It is one of the most common questions they hear.

What NICU clothing has to work around

• Feeding tubes at the abdomen, such as G-tubes and GJ-tubes.
• Central lines at the chest.
• Arm lines, including peripheral IVs and PICC lines, plus blood draws.
• Monitor leads and pulse oximeter probes.
• Frequent checks, day and night.
• Imaging, which can happen with little notice.

Ordinary baby clothes are made to be put on. They were never made to be opened, and in the NICU, opening is what you need.

Features that matter most

1. An opening where the line or tube actually is. A feeding tube exits at the abdomen. A central line exits at the chest. A garment with a single stomach opening does not help a baby with a chest line.
2. A lined pocket. Sites leak and connections drip. A plain cotton pocket soaks it up and holds it against skin. A moisture-resistant lining wipes out.
3. Sleeves that open, both of them. So an IV, PICC, probe, or blood draw is reachable without pushing a sleeve over tape.
4. Opens completely flat. So a baby can be dressed lying still, without being lifted or turned, and without threading arms past lines and leads.
5. No metal fasteners. The imaging team decides what can be worn for a scan, but a garment with resin snaps has no metal fasteners to account for.
6. No velcro. It snags blankets and roughens against skin.
7. Soft cotton. Kinder against skin that already has tape and adhesive on it.

For the full version of this list, read NICU-Friendly Clothing: What to Look For.

For parents

• Ask about unit policies first: which clothes are allowed, how family clothing should be labeled, and how laundry is handled.
• Label everything with your baby's name if the unit asks you to.
• Bring more than one. Clothes get changed often in the NICU. Two is the minimum, and three is better.
• Ask your nurse to show you how to dress your baby around their lines and tubes. Dressing your baby can become something you do, not something you watch.
• Ask about skin-to-skin time. Your nurses will guide you on how clothing fits with it.

For nurses

Parents often ask nurses what clothing works around their baby's equipment. A few points that help:

• Match the access point to the line: abdomen for feeding tubes, chest for tunneled central lines, sleeves for arm lines.
• Garments that open flat can be put on without lifting, following your unit's usual practice for managing lines during repositioning.
• Adaptive garments are textiles. They do not secure lines, the lining does not replace a dressing, and they are not sterile.

For the full clinical-staff version, read Adaptive Garments on the Unit: A Guide for Nurses and Child Life Staff. Evaluation samples are available for NICU teams, with no obligation to purchase. Request samples.

Sizing small babies

Our smallest size is 0–3 months, for babies roughly 6 to 12 pounds. Very small or premature babies will find that most adaptive clothing, including ours, runs large until they grow into it. If your baby is between sizes or has a dressing, size up. See the Sizing Guide.

Eight children with feeding tubes, described by their parents in one online thread, wore a median 41% of their age size. One thread, not research — but it is why the size on the label is the wrong number to shop by. More in What Size Clothes for a Child with a Feeding Tube or Central Line?

Planning for going home

At home, the same problems come with you, usually with one pair of hands instead of a care team. A few things families find useful to plan for:

• Clothes that let one person reach the site and dress the baby.
• Enough garments to get through a laundry cycle.
• A plan for the next stage. Once a baby starts rolling and crawling, a bodysuit that stays in place often works better than a gown.

Read our complete guides for feeding tubes and central lines.

A checklist for any garment

• Where exactly is the opening, and does it match where the line or tube exits?
• Is the interior pocket lined?
• Do both sleeves open?
• Can it be put on a baby lying completely still?
• Is there any metal or velcro anywhere?
• Is it 100% cotton?

What belongs to your care team

When your baby can wear clothes, what is allowed on the unit, and anything about lines, tubes, sites, dressings, skin, or your baby's health. Your NICU team decides. Nothing in this guide is medical guidance.

What we designed

Our gowns, in Newborn to 12M, were designed with the NICU and PICU in mind. Both open completely flat, have an open bottom for diaper changes, a lined PediaPouch™ at the line or tube site, RoutePoints™ to guide tubing away from the front of the body, and Dual Arm Access™ on both sleeves. Resin snaps, no velcro, 100% pre-shrunk cotton.

• TubeWear™ Gown, for G, J, and GJ tubes
• LineWear™ Gown, for tunneled central lines

If you are unsure what fits your baby's setup, tell us about it and we will tell you honestly whether we have something that works.