Why is it important to include preemie sizing in hospital gift shops?

Grace - posted on 04/05/2013

Neither of my girls wore premie clothes, but please do stock them. I lost my son and had to make an agonizing trip to buy clothes. Even the premie stuff didn't really end of fitting. At least if you stock even just a few things, then the parents can have something to bring home to say, "when you were born you were tinier then this." Just a thought. I think every hospital that treats newborns should offer premie sizes.

Sarah - posted on 06/02/2012

I think it's important because it's not usually anticipated when a baby will come early. Also sometimes a term baby will be very small. My TERM baby came out at 5lbs, 15oz. Nothing I brought with me to the hospital fit her (my previous baby was over 8lbs, we expected her to be too). I think it would be good to carry some onesies and sleepers in preemie sizes, because then at least people who are surprised by a smaller baby don't have to leave the hospital searching for them (because we all know preemie clothes are hard to find)!

Susan - posted on 06/02/2012

My older daughter was born at 38 weeks in 2003, but was small and lost a lot of weight due to feeding problems, so she outgrew the last preemie outfit at age 4 months. I had to go out, 4 days post-c-section, to buy clothes for her. We had two items (onesie and nightie) in preemie size that I had accidentally bought at a consignment shop because I didn't read the tag properly. My sister's boys were huge (nearly 10 lbs at birth), and I was being told by everyone not to bother with newborn clothes because she'd never wear them. They bought loads of clothes for my daughter in size 6 months and up. J's coming home outfit was huge on her, and it was a newborn size. It would have been really helpful if there had been something preemie size in the gift shop, as I could have sent someone down to get something for her.

For my second child (2010), I went in prepared with preemie clothes. Her coming home outfit was preemie size and fit nicely!

Jen - posted on 06/01/2012

My babies didn't wear clothing until they were like 2 months old. But they were micro preemies (at 25 & 27 weeks) and I was more concerned with them surviving than whether or not they had clothes that fit properly. By the time they actually started wearing clothes newborn sizing was big, but fine. I had more pressing matters to concern myself with.

Jen - posted on 06/01/2012

I didn't dress my children in preemie clothes, they swam in newborn clothes once the started wearing clothes, but they grew so quickly that paying extra for the preemie clothes was ridiculous - and the nurses all told me it'd be silly and a waste of money. Its not important to carry preemie sizing in hospital gift shops. Newborn sizing is sufficient.

Chandra - posted on 05/31/2012

I would love to see Preemie options! My Number #1 reason is they are just as precious as full term babies so why cant we be proud and wear a shirt or hat to represent them? We are just as thankful and proud of our lil miracles as parents of full term babies! I would have worn a TShirt *EVERY* day that said something about Preemies!! I also think think some items that would fit preemies when they were discharged would be helpful as well! We live in Montana and had I really hard time back at the end of 08 begining of 09 finding Preemie clothes of course now they are everywhere....seems boys are still harder to find but their sections are always smaller anyway! :) The outfit he came home in was newborn but it was *WAY* to big!! But it was super cute and the one I wanted him to come home in cause it had Angels on it and he is my miracle! But even when he came home Preemie clothes were to big but they werent as to big as the Newborns were.

Michelle - posted on 05/19/2012

I also wonder if they could carry shirts for the parents of preemies. An adult sized shirt that reads Proud Parent of a Preemie would be encouraging as you walk the halls on your way to visit your little miracle! There are some examples of shirts like this on a website called cafepress.ca. There are also graduate shirts for preemies on that website - example, NICU Graduate 2012, etc

Emily - posted on 05/19/2012

Having clothes would be amazing! I was lucky enough to have family buy some for our little guy. But passing the gift shop with empty hands and no preemie stuff was hard to do. Even if its just hats, or different colors of those little sunglasses they have for use when they need light therapy, or little books to be able to read to them while visiting would be great. I know some nicus dont allow personal stuff like blankets or whatever but i dont see the harm in having clothes, and little trinkets not only for baby but for mom and dad. Its hard enough with a preemie without feeling left out of even more.

Brittany - posted on 05/18/2012

There is only Nicu's in certain hospitals, which is where preemies go, so if a hospital has alot of preemies they should have clothing for them. . .

Monisha - posted on 05/14/2012

hi michelle,

Thanks so much for your post. My son wore gagou tagou as well. It was the only ones that fit. I had all the feelings u experienced. You want to give your baby all that u had hoped for. I felt the same. It also bothered me when my son wore clothing that belonged to the hospital. The laundry for me was a sense on connection to him. Thank you for your post, this will be very helpful. I want the hospital and administration to know how mums of preemies feel and why it is important for them to include preemie clothing in their stores.

Michelle - posted on 05/14/2012

Preemie clothing in hospital would be very helpful. My daughter was a surprise at 29 weeks and it was an emotional time. It was hard to celebrate the birth when I felt like such a failure at keeping her safely inside me. My mom tried to cheer me up by buying balloons and little gifts from the gift shop but it was just depressing because the only clothing she could find was a hat that said 'miracle' but it didn't 'fit' her for weeks - and even then it was huge on her!! I would suggest hats as most preemies need them to maintain their body temperature but in smaller sizes, newborn sizes are HUGE for preemies.

Something to consider is that some NICU"S don't allow you to cloth the child, my daughter wasn't allowed clothing for a few weeks, but then she was allowed onesies with buttons - no zippers as it didn't work with all her wires on her chest, etc. An example of the onesies that worked well with us is the premature size of diaper shirts by Gagou Tagou. We got a few as gifts and it was very important to me that I dressed her in them - gave me a sense of control over the situation, I felt very happy when I was able to put her in something that was hers and not the hospitals. We only had a few and if they got dirty I would do a load of laundry just so she'd have 'her' clothing and not have to borrow from the hospital. It was a bit silly washing a whole load for a few teeny tiny onesies, but it really helped me! Sorry, this is probably a long answer to a short question but it really hit home with my experience!

Monisha - posted on 05/14/2012

Hi Lillyanya,

thanks for your reply. I felt exactly the same way. Thank you for sharing this. this will really help.

Lillyanya - posted on 05/13/2012

I would have liked to see preemie clothing in the hospital because then I wouldn't have felt so left out. All of the other mom's could go buy their baby something from the hospital gift shop that fit. I couldn't.