What to buy for a premature baby
When it comes to buying gifts for a new baby there is a vast variety of items available on the market, however when it comes to buying gifts for premature babies they require more specialised clothing and accessories, so you may need to look further than your high street baby store.
Lets start with clothing, premature babies come in all shapes and sizes ranging from just a few grams to several kilograms. Premature babies in NICU or SCBU will need clothing that makes it easy for the medical staff to attach the various monitors and drips that help monitor these tiny babies health.
The vast majority of babygro’s or sleepsuits available on the market have feet in them, however for premature babies a footless’ design is much more practical as it enables the attachment and removal of monitoring devices to babies foot without having to undress or dress the baby. If necessary a premature baby bootie or sock can be used over the baby’s foot that does not have a monitor attached and a larger bootie or sock can be used over the foot with the monitor sensors. This will allow the medical staff to check and adjust any sensors attached to the baby’s feet without having to disturb the baby as much as a baby wearing a sleepsuit with feet in.
If baby is attached to a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) mechanical ventilation or is being tube fed then an ordinary dummy will be of no use, therefore you will need to buy a NICU premature dummy as this type of dummy has a special cut out notch to accommodate the various tubes.
As babies can loose a lot of heat through their extremities, you will need to buy several hats. Personalised baby hats are often a big hit with new parents because once baby has out grown the hat it can be put away as a keepsake.
Babies can accidentally scratch their face, so it might be wise to invest in a couple of pairs of scratch mittens.
Once baby is able to take a bottle you might like to purchase some of the Dr Browns bottles and teats as these are specifically designed for premature babies and feature an internal vent designed to create “no vacuum” and reduce air bubbles in breast milk and formula milk.
Once baby goes home mum and dad will be very busy and it can be difficult to keep track of the time of the last feed or feeds (multiple births) so I would recommend buying a baby feed wheel. Parents simply set the dial to record the time of the last feed and are instantly provided with reminder. A clever idea to help parents during those sleep deprived first few months. The Baby Feed Wheel doubles up as a greeting card as it has “To” and “From” on the reverse and is supplied with its own envelope in a clear cellophane wrapper.
Finally another practical gift, which will help give parents peace of mind, is a baby forehead thermometer, these inexpensive thermometers allow baby’s temperature to be checked without disturbing baby.
To see Prem2Pram’s full range of premature baby gifts, clothes and accessories visit our online baby store at http://www.prem2pram.co.uk
Sue Edmondson runs Prem2Pram the online premature baby store http://www.prem2pram.co.uk as a mother herself of two premature babies she understands the difficulties parents face when their baby arrives early.
Bye Byez
(out of 1 reviews)
(out of 7 reviews)