Hi Sherrly,
The Neotech Products llimb leads (micro neoleads) work well for the micropreemies. I think what you are concerned about is called impedence - where the lead is so little it wouldn't pick up the tracing accurately. The micor neoleads are fine for the little ones. You can actually place Neotech's regular Neoleads on the little ones or on the bigger babies limbs if you don't want to place them on the chest.
I love those leads as they acutally have better contact than normal leads and you can read your rhythm better on the monitor. The regular leads you can really just count the beats. It is hard to pick up an arrythmia. I like the little leads and the radiolucent Neoleads because they don't fall off all the time and you don't have to take them off for Xrays. They won't show up on the Xrays.
They end up saving a lot of money too - as you are not opening new leads everyshift. They last 5 plus days. If I have them on a micorpreemie with bad skin, I leave them on until they need to come off. The skin underneath the lead actually will be much better than the skin exposed to air.
Hope this helps,
jan shields
Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns
Jan@SunshineRainbows.com