Innovative Clothing for Premature Babies
It can be hard to find clothes for premature babies. Most stores contain only a very limited selection, if any, of clothes in preemie sizes, and newborn clothes tend to be way too big for preemies. Sometimes preemies also need to be attached to medical equipment, which can make it hard to dress them in regular baby clothes because of the necessary cords and wires. Some companies have begun to design innovative new clothes for preemies, making this process easier for new parents of these tiny babies.
Clothes are available for even the smallest of babies, weighing just 1 or 2 pounds, which is sometimes considered micro size. Tiny sized clothes fit babies that are between 2 and 4 pounds, and typical preemie size clothes fit babies between 3 and 6 pounds. Regular newborn clothes are meant for babies between 5 and 8 pounds.
These clothing options include onesies that open up along the top of the arms as well as down the front and legs, making them easier to put on babies that need to be monitored by various types of medical equipment. These can have long sleeves and legs or be in the form of a vest for warmer temperatures. Another option is crossover closing, which is also very NICU-friendly in style. Bag-style sleepers that fasten at the top of the shoulder with velcro are another useful option, making it easy to keep the baby warm while still allowing for movement of the arms and legs. For babies that can't seem to keep hats on their heads, there are also hooded capes available, although these shouldn't be used when the parent isn't actively supervising the child. Capes like this can help keep the preemie warm while people are holding her. Parents can visit The Premature Baby Boutique for more information on these particular items of clothing.
Some types of preemie clothing offer other useful features, such as cuffs that fold over the hands to keep babies from accidentally scratching themselves and dresses with bottoms that can fold over the feet to form a sack and keep the outfit from riding up while the baby is sleeping. These types of clothes are becoming more widely available and are also being made in a much wider variety of colors and patterns than in the past, so parents aren't stuck outfitting their children in just pink or blue.
