Preemie Attire

The Art of Dressing Your Very Little One

By Katherine Bontrager

When Julie Ellis' son was born at 32 weeks weighing only 3 pounds, 6 ounces, it took this new mother by surprise. And among the challenges she faced, a most unexpected one was finding clothes that would fit her little boy.

"Thinking I would have a big baby, I hadn't even bought many 0-to-3-month clothes since I figured he'd barely be in them," says Ellis, who is from Miami, Fla. "I found myself hastily searching for preemie clothes that would fit."

Some 21 years ago when her daughter was born, Jane Rubinstein of Farmingdale, N.Y., found herself in a very similar situation. "I remember wanting my Becka to look like a baby, and the day (at 9 weeks old) when the IV lines were discontinued and I was encouraged to bring in baby clothes, I ran, not walked, to the nearest baby store."

"Finding clothes for preemie babies can be hard," says Sandy Desroses of Nursing Moms, Etc., an in-hospital store at the Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, R.I. The store, operated by Women & Infants' Auxiliary, was initially opened to provide breast pumps and other materials for nursing mothers. However, with an increase in premature births, they saw a growing need for appropriate clothing for preemies.

"In looking at department stores, the sizes are more for newborns," Desroses says. "The most difficult size to find is clothing that is made to fit micro-preemies, weighing a mere 1 to 3 pounds. Traditional preemie clothes are a little bigger and made for babies that weigh 3 to 6 pounds."

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