Tucson mom using sewing skills to help dress premature babies

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - Parents know a happy, healthy baby is all that one can hope for during pregnancy.

But when babies come early, their health is at risk.

One in 10 babies are born premature in the U.S., putting them at a higher risk of all sorts of health issues including intellectual problems, trouble breathing and worst of all, infant death.

A Tucson mom decided that's enough to worry about, so she used her own experience to help other parents going through the same thing.

Amanda said her son was born premature at 25 weeks and 4 days.

He was at Tucson Medical Center for months, gaining his strength to go home.

During the hospital stay, he had tubes, lines and cords all over his small body for monitoring, making it nearly impossible to put clothes on him.

"I just remember being in tears not being able to put something on him," Amanda said, "You never really think it is important until you can't find anything for you kid to wear. It's like a right of passage being able to put something on your baby."

That's when she reached out to her mom, who designed an easy-to-use baby shirt.

"You put the baby flat on it and it just folds over with Velcro. So if there is an emergency they can just rip it off," Amanda said.

Now that her son is a happy, healthy 3-year-old boy, Amanda wants to help others.

"Every time I talked to somebody I kind of got the same impression. They were like, 'Well I wanted to put them in something but I can't find any clothes. We have to wait another month before they fit.' So i got an idea that maybe could learn how to sew...I've never sewed in my life...and I started making these little baby clothes," she said.

For a month now, she has been making and handing out the shirts at TMC for free.

So far, she's been able to make around 45, but now she's hoping others in the community can join the cause.

If you'd like to donate your time to help sewing, click HERE: http://bit.ly/2dcLOP2

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