Premature baby gifts

[Onebabyandamadcat]

My niece was born last night at 26 weeks. She weights 1lb 10! She was whisked off to intensive care and has a long road ahead of her.

I'm wanting to get her and her parents a gift but I'm in unknown territory here - I've never known anyone who has had such a premature baby. Does anyone who is more knowledgeable have any good suggestions for gifts? Thanks

Does she have a name yet? I'd get something like a blanket or teddy with the name on.

If you can crochet or knit, a little hat or comfort square would be good. They are super simple and loads of tutorials on YouTube

For the parents I'd recommend Cook vouchers so that when they're all home they can have a few nights without having to worry about cooking

Some big, soft muslins are great, they can be used for bedding and mum and dad can wear one in their top so that it smells of them before being placed into the baby's incubator, really helps with bonding and is something practical, but thoughtful.

Miniboos are great, or a small comforter type toy (again, two so that they can be swapped).

A water bottle, lip balm and hand cream for parents. NICUs are hot and dry, handfasting so much destroys your hands!

Practical help if your local - offering to walk the dog, feed the cat, take a wash load to do, make a few freezer meals. Or cook vouchers as someone else suggested so that they have nutritious meals that they dont have to think about.

You sound like a great auntie, hope that your little niece continues to do well x

Tiny hats and cardigans are great if you know a knitter.

I loved getting premmie clothes because it's not the sort of thing you stock up on in advance.

A really good hand cream is an absolute must..... the constant handwashing/sanitiser plays havoc with your hands.

Are you local? When ds was born I lived in snacks and greasy hospital food and ended up craving a fresh, healthy meal.... is that something you could arrange for them?

Alternatively, a little hamper of healthy snacks that they can easily pack up and take to the hospital with them.

A really lovely children's book that they can read over and over again to their lo in the incubator. (Guess how much I love you?)

A drawstring laundry bag that can be hung on the end of the incubator (clothes go in if the nurses change lo in the night, without a bag, clothes often get lost)

A good book for your dsis to read, sitting by an incubator can be quite boring.

A really long phone charger or a couple of decent battery packs!

Thank you everyone. The wee one is doing so well. She's younger than I thought - 25 weeks - but doing so well. I've found some NICU milestone cards that I'm going to get - things like "I came off the ventilator", "first cuddle" and stuff. I thought it'd help them celebrate the wee steps. I've found incubator vests for premature babies that have Velcro and are made to accommodate tunes and stuff and I think I'll get some books.

I've arranged with my MIL to take turns doubling up dinner and have bought foil containers so that we can give them portions of dinner down for the freezer. I'm going to make a bag of snacks, hand cream and change for vending machines for them for the hospital.

Thanks for your suggestions everyone.

You sound like a fab sister
for the little one, I hope she's ok.

Your ideas sound great.

I loved getting clothes that actually fitted my twins, and nice books were great because we read to them every night. Can highly recommend 'oi frog' - it really made us (and the nurses) laugh when we read it in NICU.

Wishing your niece a smooth NICU journey

Thank you all for your kind replies and good wishes. Another day down 🙂