Inside the neonatal intensive care unit at Methodist Germantown Hospital in Memphis, some of the tiniest patients got their first taste of Halloween this week, dressed up as skunks, lobsters, puppies, pigs, penguins and ladybugs. The babies are hospitalized for reasons including premature birth, serious illness and infection, and hospital officials say one baby currently in the NICU was born at just 24 weeks.
The costumed celebration, reported by Action News 5, embraced this year’s Beanie Babies theme with animal-inspired outfits for what the station described as the babies’ first celebration. The lineup of costumes, according to WREG, included a skunk, lobster, puppy, pig, penguin, ladybug and more, turning the unit into a makeshift menagerie of stuffed-animal lookalikes.
A Yearly Tradition for Fragile Patients
Dressing NICU babies for Halloween is not new at Methodist Germantown. The hospital has turned the holiday into an annual event, with the Commercial Appeal noting that each year Methodist Germantown Hospital dresses its NICU babies in costumes for Halloween. Past years have brought their own themes, and the hospital's Beanie Babies lineup this year continues that tradition for families navigating some of the hardest weeks of their newborns' lives.
The tradition isn't limited to one hospital. Regional One Health in Memphis has also made Halloween costumes for its NICU babies an annual event for about five years, according to the Daily Memphian. This year, the outlet reported that 47 costumed babies were photographed in Regional One's NICU during the week of Halloween, dressed as animals, superheroes, ballerinas, pumpkins and cupcakes.
Handmade Touches Behind the Costumes
At Regional One, the Daily Memphian reported that costumes for the past couple of years have been hand-knitted by the aunt of a NICU nurse, a detail that underscores how much personal care goes into dressing babies who are often connected to monitors and medical equipment. Earlier Methodist Germantown NICU costumes have included baseball and football players, a cat, Monsters Inc. characters, a pea, witches, a fairy and ladybugs, per the same Daily Memphian report.
For families with infants in intensive care, the costumes offer a brief, joyful counterpoint to what are often uncertain and stressful hospital stays. Whether born many weeks early or admitted for serious illness or infection, the babies at Methodist Germantown got to mark the holiday the same way countless other Memphis-area newborns will this year, just a little earlier than most, and surrounded by hospital staff instead of trick-or-treaters.
