Girl makes scented hearts to help begin bonding with baby brother in NICU
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BOSTON, MA (WCVB) — An 11-year-old girl who has not been able to meet her baby brother yet is making sure to begin the bonding experience before he comes home from the hospital.
“The purple one says, ‘I love you,’ and the orange one says, ‘Forever,'” Emilie Dart said.
Her baby brother, Wesley, is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Brigham and Women’s Hospital because he was born 10 weeks early.
Wesley’s mom was given a pair of “scent hearts,” which are pieces of fabric given to mom and dad. They’re supposed to wear it until it absorbs their scent.
“That scent, the newborn is able to recognize it and it allows when mom is not there or dad is not there for the infant to continue to feel like they are close by,” explained Alicia Katz, a social work manager for the hospital.
Unfortunately, one of the family’s original scent hearts was misplaced.
That’s when Emilie got to work making 65 sets of hearts for her family, and others on the NICU floor.
The family hopes baby Wesley will be able to come home in about seven weeks.
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