Also included:
Preferred style of Sweater
Baby Measurements

A quote from one of the Nurses
who provided information for this page:

"Many of our parents feel helpless
when it comes to their baby's care,
but the simple act of dressing their baby gives them
a sense of some control and helps them
to bond with their child."

First, some background:
We knit and crochet for several charities in the city -Several years with the "Knit for Kids" program run by the Salvation Army with Lewiscraft craft stores, more recently with the Christmas Cheer Board, and every year several sweaters for some of the elementary schools. These organizations have all needed sweaters from 26 inch to 46 inch finished chest.

If you are crocheting for preemies for the first time:
A WORD OF CAUTION!:
Ask the Nurses what sizes and styles they want.

In 2000 we became interested in the special needs of the preemie baby. The Women's Hospital was phoned. They told us the size of the preemie and a little about the size of sweater needed. Samples were made and a meeting arranged. We showed our sample sweaters and told the nurse we wanted to know what had to be changed so the sweaters would be used on the babies instead of on dolls or teddy bears, or worse, stuffed in a closet and not used.

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Hospital Requirements for the Sweaters

Every organization and Hospital has their own requirements for the garments they use. What we have found most common is that the Nurse or Administrator we talk to does not want to hurt our feelings by telling us the sweaters we just made are not suitable. After some coaxing and stating that we wanted to know what was needed and that we would change our patterns to make them useful, these are our guidelines:

• Dropshoulder style.
• NO shoulder seams or ridges.
• Underarm seam is not sewn shut. (easier to dress the baby and also easier to check on the IV tubes and monitors)
• Weave a ribbon tie through the cuff and leave 5 inch ends to tie.
• 6 inch long yarn ties (worked as part of the edging so they won't pull loose) -at the neck and middle of sweater.
• Length of sweater is just over 1/2 the length of the baby and the sleeve width is 1/2 the length of the sweater

A nurse from one of the Hospitals in St. Louis provided this information:

• Use ties on the front instead of buttons -buttons might get pulled off and swallowed.
• Tiny Sweaters -12 inch Finished Chest- are not practical. These tiny babies are either critcally ill and cannot be dressed or are in a heated isolette with a heat sensor taped to their body. The sweater would cover the heat sensor and the baby would overheat.
• All the babies wear hats -the greatest loss of body heat is through the head. Matching Sweater, Hat, Mitten sets look great.
• Thumbless mittens with ties at the cuff are used to prevent the baby from pulling out tubes or removing monitor leads.
• Booties are also useful -especially as part of a set.

Choice of yarn:
This is my preference, not from the Hospital. 28 stitch (Bernat "Lollipop" or "Baby Soft") is as thick as I will use; 32 stitch yarn is really great even though it takes a long time for even a small garment.

For Sweater and Hat patterns see the Pattern Page under Preemie/Baby Patterns

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Baby Measurements

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