Presents for Friend who's baby is 7wks prem

[rosalux]

My friend has just had her first baby - a boy - who arrived almost 7 weeks early. He's 5lb so not super tiny I don't think, but will likely be in ICU for several weeks. I live a few hours away and so whilst I will visit them hopefully soon, I'd like to get her something in the meantime to make life a bit easier for them all. My husband jokingly suggested Uber vouchers as they do t have a car and will doubtless be back and forth to the hospital every day - is that even a thing? I was thinking maybe an online shop once a fortnight for a few weeks so they always have food and stuff in the house. Can anyone suggest something that would be helpful? I'll bring the usual baby stuff once he's at home but I wanted to do something more practical for the next few weeks for them as I can't physically be there to support them.

You’re such a thoughtful friend. I’ve heard hand cream for parents of premmies - as they constantly telling of hands praves them dry. Can you google the hospital and find out if there are any franchises on site ie our main hospital has a simply food M&s, is there a Costa/ Starbucks etc on site - and get vouchers? When my sister was in hospital long term my parents spent a fortune on coffee.

I was going to say the same as blonde! Vouchers for the cafe/take away coffee place there would be much appreciated I think.

I had s premature baby 7 weeks also he was in hospital for 4 weeks and weighed 5.1. Ur husbands ideas is brill! as we spent about £250 on parking and diesel (we where up every day)

Yeh and also spent a fortune on cafe/ take away food

The website don’t send flowers have some lovely gift boxes.
When my DD was born prematurely the best gifts I got were premature baby clothes (with going to the hospital I had no time to get any), magazines, sudoku, healthyish snacks like nakd bars, hand cream, a nice water bottle, a photo frame to put pictures of my DD in for home.
Also make sure you send a congratulations on your baby card or similar; for some reason a lot of people waited until she was home but I needed congratulating on being a mum even when I couldn’t do all the mum things due to DD being in SCBU

Our hospital had a Costa Coffee, we could have done with vouchers for there as DH was getting through one take-out coffee per day when our son was in NICU ....

Also make sure you send a congratulations on your baby card or similar; for some reason a lot of people waited until she was home but I needed congratulating on being a mum even when I couldn’t do all the mum things due to DD being in SCBU

THIS ^ It's the key thing I tell anybody visiting someone who's given birth prematurely. Please do the full Congratulations thing, it's really meaningful

Having a prem baby is very expensive , if they don't drive I'm not sure how they will manage Tbh.. maybe offer some lifts. ? My ds was in scbu for a month and dh was working , I couldn't drive or walk really ( c section) , we had dd at school . I had to leave ds to be looked after a lot of the time by the nurses because it was too difficult getting there . ( I did see him every day but sometimes only for an hour due to doctors rounds taking bloody ages etc ) ..
anyways I'd say lifts or food .

Thanks for all the suggestions. I had been compiling a baby box to take when I visit but I'll pop a couple of bits (hand cream, soft toy) in the post with a congratulations card this week. I can't offer lifts as I live 100 miles away but I'll investigate the Uber idea and a gift card for the shops at the hospital. It's a huge hospital so I think I'll have to call and check which ones are close to the neonatal unit and whether they actually accept cards/vouchers etc.

The Costa voucher idea is a good one; me and DH spent a fortune there both to keep us awake (DH) and provide a bit of comfort for me

Vouchers for kindle or books. Honestly lots of time just sat there doing nothing. I found books a great distraction