NICU babies wear Halloween costumes

They may be too little to go trick-or-treating, but these NICU babies are celebrating Halloween in style.

Every year, the NICU staff at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit throws a Halloween costume event for the babies in the unit.

Spending the holidays in the hospital can be a challenge for both parents and children, so the NICU nurses make sure to conjure up some extra magic for Halloween.

Each baby has their own little costume – and they’re all handmade by a nurse’s mother.

The Henry Ford Hospital NICU has planned an annual Halloween event since 2016, but the costumes weren’t always so elaborate.

In 2018, nurse Christin Braun asked her mother, Valerie Atkinson, if she would be interested in helping with the costumes.

Atkinson, a lifelong crocheter, has been making Halloween costumes for the NICU babies ever since.

“It’s something very special to me,” says Atkinson.

Every year the NICU team brainstorms a theme for the babies’ Halloween costumes.

This year’s theme was Disney, with costumes including Ariel from ‘The Little Mermaid’, Stitch from ‘Lilo and Stitch’, Simba from ‘The Lion King’ and many other beloved characters.

All NICU nurses help make the Halloween costume extravaganza a success.

“Everyone donated their time,” Braun said. “People come in on their day off or stay after so everything looks perfect for the baby.”

Atkinson starts making the little Halloween costumes in August – long before many of the October NICU babies are even born.

She takes inspiration from Etsy patterns and then tailors the costumes to fit a variety of small sizes.

For babies with feeding or breathing tubes, Atkinson makes ‘stopover’ suits that can be placed over the baby like a blanket to avoid interfering with medical equipment.

This year, Atkinson was still crocheting costumes until the very last second: three NICU babies were born the night before the Halloween photo shoot.

“She was crocheting in the break room,” Braun says.

Halloween isn’t the only special event at Henry Ford Hospital’s NICU: On Christmas Eve, the nurses dress each baby in themed pajamas.

Having a child in the NICU is an extremely challenging experience for parents, and these holiday events are intended to give them a sense of comfort and normalcy.

“A lot of times they’re grieving. They may not have had the birth they wanted, and their baby isn’t at home with them, but they can still wear a Halloween costume and they can still wear Christmas pajamas,” says Braun . say. “Whatever their situation is, they can do all that.”

Atkinson has been heartened by the response from grateful parents.

“The parents of one baby just said, ‘Thank you for giving us a normal day where we’re happy,’” she recalls.

The parents asked Atkinson to sign their daughter’s baby book and even included her in a Halloween family photo.