How YOU can help!
We are SuperDinky and we make the most joyful beautiful organic tiny premature baby vests. Over the past 5 years we are so incredibly thankful and grateful to have dressed over 600+ premature babies and given their families a little moment of joy.
Its hard to express just how much dressing your baby means when you've had such a traumatic start to their life. It really means absolutely everything.
I am 6 years out from my prematurity journey starting and my chest still tightens around my heart when i think of the first few days and weeks of my babies life. I will never forget how scared and hopeless and helpless I felt as a mother; freshly postpartum, In shock and unable to hold my baby or even know which was mine in a room of incubators.
There is a reason why NICU parents (I use this term to include premature and poorly term babies) suffer from PTSD at a disproportionate rate. We enter a state of stress when we are at a uniquely vulnerable moment of our lifes, during or straight after birth.
The hormones which flood our body after birth are designed by evolution to help us body with our baby, we get a flood of adrenaline to help us complete the marathon of birth followed by a release of oxytocine to help us bond.
But what happens if our baby is sick or too gestationally early to survive without medical support. They are whisked away from us for support and we are left with with stress hormones instead of happy ones.
This state of stress continues as we agonise about things which parents should NEVER have to think about.. (these are just SOME of the thoughts NICU families think)
- will my baby die?
- will they make it off lifesupport?
- will they get sepsis?
- will they need multiple operations?
- when will i be able to hold them?
- Will i ever feel anything for them other than fear?
- How can i be a parent to my baby when they are hooked up to so many tubes and wires and look like a tiny broken bird?
- Am i a terrible person because I want to go back to work where i have some sembelance of control instead of being in this helpless limbo?
- Will their birth have a life-long impact on their health? and quality of life?
- Why did this happen to us?
- Did I fail my baby? Is this all my fault? (spoilier, it really isnt!)
So yeh.. your baby being well enough to wear clothes AND you being able to dress them is a HUGE deal.
It can be the first time you feel like you are actually a parent. Or that there will be life after NICU. There will be more clothes and growing and maybe your baby can come home sometime in the future!
Its a HUGE positive step.
When I thought about what I could do to ease the pain of NICU families, to let them know they are not alone, this is one which I could do. Alongside Beth (my friend, neonatal nurse which cared for my baby and co-founder of SuperDinky) we started making perfect specially designed for preemies organic supersoft clothes.
I made the first 100 vests myself. I have a degree in fashion design and an industrial sewing machine. But i got pregant and couldnt sew any more so we paid a seamstress and now we have Florie who makes our beautiful vests. I still pack them and ship them from my home tiny studio.
Beth is on medical leave right now and its just me. I run SuperDinky volunterily because I really believe in its power to help people. To help reduce trauma by giving people one nice moment. When they look back at their NICU journey they will be able to say, we did have one good day.
Yes we sell baby vests but really the vests are a vehicule for support and community. The NICU vests are the absolute best quality UK made, hand-sewn, designed to wrap softly arounf preemies etc etc.... but their REAL POWER is community. Its like a trojan horse... what parents get is a beautiful baby vest but what is actually inside is way more.
When you 'PAY IT FORWARD' and gift your NICU you are sending a message to the family that recieves it. You are not alone. We have been in your shoes. We see you. we see you showing up day after day, pumping all night without a baby at home, crying as you exit the hospital each day without a baby. We see your pain. And we send you hope. Hope and community and connection.
So now to the ask.. I cant run this alone. I am doing my very best. I put hours and hours into SuperDinky each week. I have had 100,000 views on social media this week but the reality is that doesnt translate to getting vests to babies.
Right now, I have over 200 vests in stock. Please help me get these to families who could do with a little moment of joy!
I'm being so honest here, I am struggling and I need help. It takes time to grow a buisness (even a community interest one) but we need some help. We had zero website views yesterday and 4 the day before. That just isnt sustainable.
Please consider becoming a superdinky champion if you possibly can. I've thought of 7 ways in which you can help. Some are free. I really really hope you will pick one (or all?!) to do because we cant exist with the number of orders we have right now. And we really believe that SuperDinky should exist and that we are doing and can do really great things for NICU families.
8 ways which you can be a SUPERDINKY CHAMPION:
If your little one has a birthday coming up, ask for gifts of NICU vests instead of toys and ask them to put the childs name in the order box. We did this recently for Maeves first birthday and she gifted some beautiful vests to BWH. (thank you Maeve!) cost to you = £0 + i'll send you a thank you postcard for your babies keepsake vests showing how they helped other tiny/poorly babies.
Do a sponsorsed buggy walk. Codie raised over £500 last winter which mean she could dress the ENTIRE ward of NICU babies in SuperDinky at Bolton (thank you Codie!) cost = free to you, except your energy walking!
Subscribe on pay day to 'GIFT YOUR NICU' each month and know that ever single pay day you will be helping a NICU family to have a moment of JOY (thank you to Laureanna, Jayne, Liz, Matt & Jessica) cost to you = £22.99/month + a feeling of JOY that you are helping other nicu families.
GIFT YOUR NICU whenever you can. Maybe you can't monthly but you'd like to at certain times; your child's birthday, mothers day, christmas, random acts of kindness day (thank you Celia!) cost to you = £22.99 whenever you are able + a warm buzz for doing something lovely.
Share our story everwhere! This is a big one. People find us too late. They dont find us when they are navigating NICU. We need everyone in England to think of SuperDinky when someone they know hasd a premature baby. I've been on the BBC and local news but its not enough. I need help. If you are in any mum or parenting facebook groups (the motherload and similar ones) any parenting whatsapp groups, any NICU focused support groups, please please do a post talking about us and how we are trying to reach NICU families with moments of joy. Direct people to our website and ask them to sign up to our newsletter. Cost to you = £0 + 5 mins writing a post.
Sponsor our overheads. The hard reality is that even though we dont take any pay, it still costs money to run a small buisness. We have website costs, email hosting, bis insurance, accountant, stock, sewing, printing costs etc. Any help with this would help us to get more vests to babies! We dont have any support currently, would your employer help us? Cost to them = £depends.. our website costs £280/yr for example.
Partner with us. If you own a business or are part of an organisation which makes grants (Lions club? Rotary club?), you can help us gift vests to your local hospital as part of your CSR. There are 90,000 babies in NICU every year. You can help us make a real difference to their journeys. Cost to you = whatever donation amount you can afford + some positive feel good vibes and a place on our website Partner section.
I really hope you believe in what we do and want to join our crew of SD Champions. If you have chosen one, please do email me to tell me which one! Or if you need help to do one which you have chosen? If you need any photos/ quotes/ help I am only a DM or email away (and I love to chat) lorna@superdinky.com or DM on instagram
Thank you for reading,
With love,
Lorna & *Beth
Preemie-mum & neonatal nurse
(I include Beth because she is on leave but she is the heart of everything we do)
P.S. HEAD here to read more about GIFT YOUR NICU
