Crocheted octopuses that can help premature babies arrive in Spain

A beautiful initiative has been circulating on the network for a few days, whose origin dates back to 2013 and in Denmark. After discovering that some little octopuses made of crochet, they could help premature babies, there was no shortage of volunteers to knit soft and colorful stuffed animals by hand. Sponsored by the Spruttengruppen organization (On the website they show the number of donated octopuses updated), the project basically consists of donating stuffed animals to Hospitals with Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU). The function of these toys is to emulate (in a way) the umbilical cord.

Babies are known to be able to hold onto the cord that binds them to mother with their little hands, and being "born early" deprives them of this contact. But in addition, the investigations carried out in Denmark confirmed that when pressing with their hands on the tentacles, premature babies obtained the same benefits as doing the same with the umbilical cord; namely: more regular heart rate and respiration, higher blood oxygen level, ...

The news in recent weeks is that in Spain, a group of volunteers has met with the name of Noupops, and they have created a network of grocery stores (and grocers) that weave incessantly to bring these 20-centimeter octopuses to various NICUs. They have proposed to get 20.000 units that will be collected in various places before they reach their destinations. The stuffed animals are subsequently checked to ensure that their tentacles do not measure more than 21,84 centimeters; and they must be sterilized before fulfilling their mission to accompany the babies.

I like this idea: it's nice, relatively new, and it's functional…; But let's not forget that there is a 0 cost method and easy application called "Kangaroo method" that has great acceptance and evidence of its effectiveness. Of course, anyone can understand that there are difficulties in maintaining "skin-to-skin" contact 24 hours a day. So for the little time that the baby is back in the incubator, these pulpits could be a good complement, and they also take away from these treatment devices.

At present, prematurity is a problem because its incidence has risen, although there are also means to address it. Any baby born before week 37 can be considered premature, and if his birth occurs before week 35, he will need a lot of support to survive.