Knitting for the NICU

Why We Can't Knit Lace for the NICU

You may have seen this post going around Facebook :

         

                           

Bailey's toe with a 24 hour difference. I don't post pics that are grotesque; however, I think this is appropriate to share with other parents of young ones. Al...ways check footies, booties, and baby socks. I had adorable bear booties on her for almost 6 hours before taking them off and discovering a string/thread had managed to wrap (with the help of little wiggling toes) around her toe, cutting circulation off. If it wasn't for her "hurt" cries while I was rubbing her foot I would of never bothered to check until I dressed her for bed late in the evening. Please, always turn those booties, socks and onsies inside out to check for loose strings.....I know i will from this point forward. 3 kiddos and this is the first time this has happened. — with Valerie Moreillon and 2 others.

This is the perfect illustration for why we cannot knit lacy fabrics for the NICU, no matter how lovely they are.  Think of how small the fingers and toes of term babies are.  Now imagine the diameters of those digits as half, or even smaller than that. The capillary beds in the fingers and toes of premature babies are so delicate that getting a digit caught in a bit of lace or with a lace string wrapped round would so easily cut off blood flow that the baby could lose that finger or toe. 

 

 That's why I don't allow any lacy crocheted knitted items in our NICU.

Baby Ryker: Undyed Alpaca Hoodie with Coordinating Cargo Pants

 

After patiently and expensively pulling out all the stops for a year trying to get pregnant, my friends Stephanie and Lance reluctantly put aside their hopes and faced the fact that they were probably  never  going to be biological parents.  Imagine how exacted we all were, not to mention how excited they were, when they found out a few months later they were pregnant!

I think we all held our breath through the first trimester with them and I know for a fact there were a multitude of prayers and hopes that all would go well for both Stephanie and little Mr. Ryker--and it did. We all grateful and so happy for Steph and Lance, and to have baby Ryker here.

Stephanie works in our NICU so she's seen all the wild hats I've made these past four years and the only thing she asked me out right for was a football hat.  I'll blog that later but for now, I'll share the other project with you.  How could I not mark such a miracle with something extra special?

The outfit is knitted in a super soft light weight undyed alpaca yarn imported from Peru.

Patterns:

Baby Hoodie:   Comfy Hoodie by Jean Guirguis at Coats and Clark (Red Heart Yarns)

I added a small coordinating pocket and button on the left chest.

Pants:   http://alison.knitsmiths.us/pattern_baby_bell_bottoms.html

The two changes I made were adding elastifc and elimating the drawstring and adding a coordinating pocket on right leg with button to match the hoodie.

Tube socks:  http://whimsyknits.lightshines.net/patterns/TinyTubeSocks.pdf

Inspiration: Look to Home Decor for Color Palettes

 I read through this blog post on Conspicous Style blog, illustrating Stacey's favorite Sherman Williams paint colors with photos of rooms,  noticing which color palettes caught my eye and which made me move quickly to the next picture.  About halfway through, I realized that if I stopped looking at the style of furniture and simply concentrated on the color palettes, my little brain started seeing cute baby hats and outfits in colors combinations I'd never thought of before.

It's so easy for us, as knitters, to pick color combos that we see a lot in the knitting patterns we choose or that we immediately think of as baby color combos because we've seen them before on other baby outfits but there are no specific colors or color combinations to be used.  Pick what makes you happy, what makes you say "Wow", what colors and combos call out to you, because more than likely, if you like it, there will be other parents and NICU staff who will like those colors too. 

http://www.conspicuousstyle.com/2012/04/top-100-benjamin-moore-paint-colors.html

So take a look at this post of her photos and save or jot down any color combos that strike you and then take that with you to your next yarn buying adventure.  I bet that you, like me, will pick out some color combos you've never worked with before and have fun doing it.

Thank you, Stacey, for inspiring us.

Here are a few of my favorites that I don't usually work with:

Medium blue, red violet, and lavender, with accents of white and yellow gold.

Pale pink, bright orange, and red.

 Moss green, red violet, and lavender, with accents of black and cream.

 

 

The Rules for Knitting for NICU's

            "Will you knit something for me that's as adorable as I am?" (Photo from March of Dimes web site)

   

 There aren't really rules, per se, for knitting for the NICU but there are certain things that need to be done in specific ways. As I explain them, they'll make perfect sense. I'll go through the areas individually, but in general, keep my knitting-for-the-NICU mantra always in mind:  SOFT and EASILY WASHED.  Preemie babies have premature organs, including skin, which makes only the softest of soft fabrics and yarns suitable for their tender skin and all the items will be washed repeatedly in very hot water and dried in a very hot dryer to kill germs. 

 

Projects to Knit (or crochet):

NICU's are always in need of hats, socks, booties, hand mitts, blankets, and cocoons/cuddlers/sleep sacks. Some NICU's allow handmade toys in the cribs and some don't but even the NICU's who don't will usually gladly take hand-made teddy bears or other soft toys to give out to our babies' siblings, for Pediatric kids,  or to comfort children in the ER.

 

Yarns:

All babies' skin is delicate but in the NICU that is true times a hundred-fold.  The younger the baby the more thin, delicate, and vulnerable their skin. With the very tiniest little Littles, there are places where their is skin is only a few cells deep, so only the softest, most gentle, non-allergenic fibers can be used.  Stay away from animal fibers with the exception of alpaca, which is non-allergenic due to the absence of lanolin on the hair follicles. The best yarns for Preemies are spun from cotton, bamboo, acrylic, and alpaca.

 All sizes of yarn can be used;  babies aren't just about baby yarn. There are two purposes for hats in NICU:  keeping body warmth in and keeping noise out.  Premature babies are not ready for stimulation of any kind yet, whether it's light, sound, or touch. Their development has not had time to progress that far. That's why NICU's are always dark, quiet, and warm.  Noise and light that seems tolerable to us can actually damage the fragile still-growing cilia in their ears and rods/cones of their eyes. Because premature babies also lack the body fat yet to maintain their own body heat, we must supplement them with heated environment in their isolettes and with hats.  Baby yarn is great, but worsted weight and bulky yarns can be appropriate and helpful too, as well as ear flaps (without any long ties that could present a choking hazard).

Patterns:

Because premature fingers and toes are so tiny with such fragile skin and capillary beds, only tightly woven knit or crochet pattern textures should be used. As beautiful as lacy patterns are for older babies, those same hole-y creations can trap tiny fingers and toes, cutting off circulation, possibly irreversibly.  To imagine the smallest of the NICU patients' fingers, look at the fingernail on your index finger. Now imagine a tiny hand, with all four fingers spanning only the width of your fingernail, and only barely or almost able to encircle your finger with their hand. That's how tiny those fingers are. 

 Cocoons, cuddlers, and sleep sacks are very popular, and can be very useful in the NICU as long as we knitters keep in mind that they need to be created with SIDS recommendations.  Keep the length to no more than 11" for 1-3lb babies, 14" for 3-5lb babies, 15" for 5-7lb babies, 17" for 7-9lb babies, and without fold down flaps around the face or hoods.  This will keep any fabric from accidentally covering the baby's face.

There are many wonderful websites besides this one who post free patterns sized for preemies:

Bev's Country Cottage

Relief Share Org

Newborns in Need

March of Dimes

Knitting Patterns Central

Although there are lots of pattern books for babies, there are few books available sized specifically for premature babies, which is why I chose to write one:

Warm Hats for Wee Noggins by Glenna Anderson Muse

It can be found or special ordered at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, or JoAnn's Fabrics, or mail ordered directly from the publisher: Leisure Arts.

There are so links in the upper left hand of the blog page.

Colors:

Historically, pastel colors only have been used for babies, particularly premature babies. I disagree on principle and from my own personal experience.   Babies are people too and come in all sizes, personalities, and skin colors.  Whether they come out to play at 23 weeks or 40 weeks they immediately have their own little personalities on display for all to admire. Some baby girls are quietly demure in a way that makes us reach for pink girly girl hats, some baby boys are already little wild men who wear deep colors perfectly.  One of my favorite Christmas hats I've ever knitted was for a deeply- caramel-colored skinned girl who, I swear, SPARKLED in a bright, gem-toned purple and aqua striped Santa hat. Also, some of the most popular hats we knit in the fall are for the daddy's:  camo. Camo of every hue for both boys and girls.  Pastels are great in the NICU but deeper, richer colors and variegated yarns are just as wonderful.

Embellishments:

One of the great things about embellishments on hats for preemies vs toddlers, is that preemies don't chew on buttons, so within reason, as long as all embellishments are triple super duper sewed on tightly, they can be used on NICU hats.  Try to keep anything sewn on to the front of the hat and away from the sides and back of the head so the baby won't be laying on any kind of applique, silk flower, etc.  And the same goes for bulky seams. Try to stay away from bulky seams that the baby might lay on. Again, it goes back to their tender skin.

With that said, I use a wide variety of items sparingly to decorate hats and booties: buttons, google eyes, ribbons, silk flowers, appliques, fabric paints, pom-poms, etc.  Below are a selection of photos showing hats made by my friends and I over the years: 

For larger versions, click on the pics.

   

 

 

 

 

Whew! And after all that work, know what my very favorite part is?  Seeing our little Littles in those hats and then sending them home with parents as souvenirs of their time spent with us in the NICU.

Happy Knitting!

Glenna

Next Building: Part III

After several days of watching the yarn sit on the rock with nothing to do, finally  yesterday the birds/squirrels found it and made off with it! Yay! It worked. I have more yarn and will be doling out until it's gone.  I love the thought of little creature nests lined with the odds and ends of our NICU babies' hats and booties!

 

What Happens With NICU Knitting When I Get Sick?

 When I feel like this.....

 

I don't do any of this:

 I don't touch my knitting. I don't look at my knitting. I don't sort or handle our knitted baby things or even wash them. I don't think about our knitting no matter what holiday or how many cute things we have made. I ignore it all even though it makes me want to do this:

Because these:

are much too precious and fragile for even the possibility of being exposed to these little nasties:

 

When I feel like this:

 

Gene becomes like this:

And makes me go see Dr. Timmy:

 

Who makes me take these:

 

 So I can feel all:

And go back to happily doing this: