Knitting for Preemies?

[humblestumble]

After reading a little about preemies in the new issue of Vogue Knitting Magazine, I'm seriously thinking about doing some charity knitting for premature babies. The only problem is that I have never even had a baby, let alone a premature baby, so do any of you know the basic necessities for preemies? I don't even know where to donate my items to. I would like to donate to the hospitals here, but I don't know if I should knit mittens, booties, hats, or jumpers... Which of these are the most important? Or are they all equally important?

I'd hate for more preemies to die just because of lost body heat. I have plenty of yarn here.

Oh yeah, I have some general types of yarns here, and I hope they are alright/soft enough for preemies. Caron Simply Soft, Softee Baby, and there's two others I have, but I dont know the brand or anything offhand.

[Jenelle]

From what I read, most hospitals need hats, booties, and blankets. Bevscountrycottage.com has a list of hospitals at the end of the page that take donations.

As long as the yarn is nice and soft and not scratchy against the cheek or the inside of your arm, you can use it for preemies. Here is a list of yarn that is recommended for preemies, but it does not mean that you have to use the yarn on that list. Just make sure that the yarn is machine washable and some hospitals recommend not using wool on the items since the preemies are sensitive.

Here is a size chart. It comes in handy a lot.

[Lisa Kay]

Take a look at this KH thread:

http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting...ic.php?t=18364


And this is a list of many different charities:

http://www.interweave.com/knit/charities.asp

[River]

more then anything they need hats, preemes lose most of there body heat from there heads, and a quick tip most preemies heads are the size on orange some are smaller and some are larger. then blankets are another good thing it is some thing specail that not only is it for the baby but also for the mother it is something she can look at and take home with the baby. The hosptial my daughter was at the only thing we got were hats and blankets but you could make sweaters for the babys to go home with. I would find a nicu near you and find out what they will take.

It is an amazing thing that you will be doing and i want to say thank you for every preemie and there mothers

[Jaxhil]

I used to knit/crochet /sew for a preemie group called Threads of Love in the South TX area-and they always needed blankets (18" square or so), hats and booties! The blankets can even be sewn from fleece, soft cotton knits, or flannels, too.

I second what River said about hats being the most needed, and the hat size-we were told to make them to fit an orange, and I would say thats accurate from my experience. The blankets are often called Kangaroo blankets and are used during times when Mama or Daddy are holding the baby for some skin to skin contact. This is extremely important for Baby's development (and parents too!).

Caron Simply Soft would be wonderful, and I'm sure any yarn (washable of course) that is very soft would be fine. Our group didn't seem to like cotton though. My guess is it doesn't stay as soft when washed up.

My daughter Grace was born at 23 wks/6days, weighed 1 lb 9 oz-she is doing great now at 3yrs. I know first hand how much these items mean to the parents of preemies! I recieved several items for her and I will treasure them always

I need to start doing that again too!

[nicurn]

Since I am a NICU nurse here is my two cents worth. We love all the effort, time, and love that goes into making all of our items for the babies. But we have so many items in our nursery that we can't use. As nurses we are very concerned about what we put on our babies and alot of the yarn is to scratchy after our vigourous washing to use with the babies. Or the hats are to small to fit on their heads. I spent 15 mins. today going through our stash of hats and blankets to try and find a couple to send home with a baby. But most were to small around the rim and would not stretch to fit over his head. So I would suggest knitting up a few different sizes, wash them in a gentle detergent and take them to the NICU in your area and ask them if you can try them on a baby to see how they fit and what you need to adjust to make them fit. We do use the hats that fit and some blankets all the time. We very, very rarely use mittens, bonnets, or booties. When we find hats that fit certain babies we use them all the time. If you have any questions or do not have a NICU in your area that you feel comfortable going to PM me and I can arrange to take the items into our nursery and try them on for size for you.