This month Huggies® launched their smallest diaper yet, the Little Snugglers Nano Preemie diaper, designed to fit micro preemies weighing under two pounds.
Develoed in partnership with NICU nurses as a part of Huggies’® No Baby Unhugged program, the diaper is designed especially to protect the delicate and sometimes paper-thin skin of micro preemies. It’s smaller size specifically promotes developmentally appropriate positioning in the NICU.
In 2016 Hand to Hold founder Kelli Kelley served on the Huggies® Nursing Advisory Council, serving as the parent voice and providing insights on how to protect babies’ fragile skin and development, so nurses could better understand their role in helping NICU parents become confident caregivers.
Unable to hold her son Jackson for more than six weeks after he was born, changing his diaper was one of the few ways Kelley felt she could care for and bond with him. Kelley describes that first diaper change as “a powerful, emotionally charged event,” but with the help of her son’s nurse, she was able to face her fears and take the first step towards bonding with her son and stepping into her role as caregiver. “I was terrified I might hurt him, but his nurse lovingly and professionally coached me as we had to carefully maneuver multiple pieces of medical equipment and use extreme care with his delicate skin.” As Kelley describes it, it was the hug she had been waiting for.
While these tiny diapers are cute, they are a bittersweet, yet welcome addition to the NICU. Many parents of micro preemies, including Kelley, recall how even the preemie diapers fit their unimaginably small babies. Waistbands folded down, they still swallowed their fragile bodies. Parents of even tinier micro preemies recall their NICU using gauze as their baby’s first diapers.
“Good-fitting diapers are important to the healthy growth and development of our smallest patients,” said Anjanette Lee, MS, CCC/SLP, NTMTC, in the original press release. Lee is an infant development specialist at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital in Houston, Texas, one of nine Level III and Level IV NICUs that tested the new diaper.
The Little Snugglers Nano Preemie diapers also feature a narrower crotch and soft, flexible fasteners that provide comfortable fit and promote developmentally appropriate positioning. Read the full press release here.
Huggies® is taking important steps in ensuring the tiniest babies can grow and thrive and that parents are given the tools to grow into their vital role as caregiver.
For more information on the Huggies Little Snugglers Nano Preemie diaper, contact your local Huggies® sales representative, call 800-241-3146 or email huggieshospital@kcc.com.
Hand to Hold is grateful to have Huggies® as a sponsor of the NICU Now podcast. Listen to episode three: The Importance of Bonding with Your Medically Fragile Child. The NICU Now podcast is now available on iTunes.