This premature baby clothes business is helping newborns and parents one joyful baby vest at a time

When Lorna Tallowin gave birth to her son prematurely, he received “incredible care” from the NHS, who she said she “cannot thank enough” for his treatment.

In terms of her own mental health, however, the support was lacking, with Tallowin experiencing PTSD symptoms and anxiety after her son’s 38-day stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). As well as the “terrifying” situation of not knowing whether her son would survive, his complex tubes and cannulas while he was in hospital meant she was unable to dress him in the colourful baby clothes she wanted to.

The year after her son was born, Tallowin, 40, decided to do something to help other parents who had gone through similar situations, starting the premature baby clothing company Super Dinky alongside neonatal nurse Beth Morris.

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“We started by making teeny, tiny premature baby vests, which work for bringing joy to the families in hospital in that they’re bright and colourful and joyful,” Tallowin, from Nottingham, told the Big Issue. “But it’s important that it works for the hospital staff, that the vests are very accessible for any monitoring wires, tubes or cannulas the baby might have on.”

Morris looked after her baby while he was in hospital, and the two first discussed Super Dinky on a park bench during Covid.

“Then we spent two years developing the vests to make them absolutely perfect and brilliant, and a really unique design that works really well,” she said, explaining that you can buy newborn baby clothes in most shops, but they’re not often practical for premature babies.

“When my son was born, his right arm was all strapped up because he had a cannula and his skin was so fragile… you can imagine it’s very difficult to dress a baby in regular baby clothes if they need quite a lot of medical support.”

Tallowin said they have dressed 800 babies in the three years since Super Dinky was formed and that the smallest items of clothing fit babies weighing 1.5lbs.

“There isn’t that sort of size – and also not in bright, joyful prints – readily available anywhere else, so we saw that as a bit of a gap where we could bring a little bit of happiness and joy to families that are having a really hard time,” she said. “We’ve had amazing feedback, people saying it’s the first time after months in hospital that they actually felt like a parent. Just having something that actually fits their baby when they’re really small is quite meaningful.”

‘PTSD isn’t just something you experience in the military’

Super Dinky isn’t just about bringing joy to families who have babies in the NICU. The organisation also wants to shine a light on parents who develop PTSD due to having a baby in intensive care after her own experience with the condition.

“I was in quite a bad way, emotionally and mentally, I was having panic attacks and flashbacks,” she said. “Even very simple things, like I would go into Sainsbury’s and the self-checkouts would beep, and the beeping is the same kind of sound as the beeps in the hospital. It would immediately transport me back to being in a very scary place where I was not sure on a day-to-day basis whether my son would survive.”

She said she told somebody at the time that she thought she was experiencing PTSD symptoms, but was brushed off because of the misconception that PTSD can only affect military veterans.

“It’s really important that people realise PTSD isn’t just a military thing, and parents are very vulnerable when their baby is in a medical emergency or medically unstable,” she explained. “Some parents are getting phone calls saying you need to come and say goodbye in case your children don’t make it through the night. I saw my son resuscitated a number of times in hospital, and then I resuscitated him at home after he’d been discharged.”

Tallowin said it “changes you as a person to be in that stress state” while caring for a premature baby, and that “when you’re in a state of high stress for a number of consecutive days or weeks or months, witnessing things that you find really traumatic, that’s where the PTSD occurs”.

“There isn’t a general awareness that NICU families are suffering from PTSD,” she adds, “even families themselves don’t necessarily know that’s what it is. The more we can talk about that and raise awareness, the more people we can help.”

Describing the statistics as “staggering”, Tallowin said research had found 40% of parents who had a newborn stay in intensive care experienced post-traumatic stress symptoms, adding that the rates of postnatal depression are also higher than the rates generally seen in new parents.

“During the trauma of NICU you go into almost a survival state, where you’re just like, ‘I just have to get through each day, have to get through each hour, or I just have to get through each minute sometimes,'” Tallowin said.

“When it comes to the point where you’re finally able – I mean, not all NICU babies make it home – but if you are lucky enough that your baby survives the NICU experience and you get to take them home, that’s when you stop that survival mode. Very often, that’s when it all comes crashing down emotionally and mentally because you’re trying to process what you’ve been through.”

Unless parents specifically reach out for support themselves, it’s “not necessarily offered, it’s not necessarily available, there isn’t necessarily budget for it,” she said.

As well as the support of companies like Super Dinky, Tallowin said there should be a scheduled wellness check for parents after their children come home from the NICU, just as there is a six-week wellness check for new parents after they give birth.

“There needs to be one scheduled appointment NICU families receive… because otherwise they’re just slipping through the net and it’s not getting picked up. There’s all these families out there who are just living with the trauma and not receiving any support for it.”

Tallowin underlined that she’s excited to use Super Dinky as a “force for good”, creating community support and awareness for families who have had children in the NICU.

“My whole aim with Super Dinky is for families to feel that they are seen and validated, that their experience matters, and it’s OK to be like, ‘The start to my baby’s life was absolutely awful, and I’m still dealing with that, and that doesn’t mean I don’t love my baby or that I’m not a brilliant mum or a brilliant dad,'” she said.

Super Dinky has been featured on the ITV programme Be Your Own Boss with Holly Tucker, and that while on the show the entrepreneur gave some valuable advice on growing the business and supporting more people with premature children.

“[Holly Tucker] suggested that we do more toddler t-shirts and family t-shirts and sweatshirts, so it can be a journey for the whole family to celebrate their child and raise awareness for prematurity and the NICU experience,” Tallowin said, explaining that alongside the brand’s newborn clothing, they had launched clothing for adults and children reading “NICU warrior”.

“I’ve had so many amazing messages from parents, and so many photos of children who are going to their hospital appointments and their physiotherapy and their follow-up appointments, and the parents are choosing to put their children in NICU warrior t-shirts so they can show how proud they are that their baby went through it and survived it,” she said, adding that Super Dinky’s first adult range celebrated World Prematurity Day, which falls on Monday (17 November).

Going into the Christmas period, Super Dinky is aiming to gift 100 parents red vests for premature newborns reading “My First Christmas”, with members of the public able to buy the vests for parents in need as a “Secret Santa”-style donation.

Sarah Miles, founding trustee and communications director of The Smallest Things premature baby charity, told the Big Issue that nine in 10 parents of premature babies say the journey through neonatal care lasts long after they’re discharged from hospital, with more than a quarter (28%) of the parents surveyed by the charity having been formally diagnosed with PTSD.

“There’s a lack of understanding and awareness among medical professionals and only one in five parents believes their GP understands their and their babies’ needs. Parents feel lonely, isolated and worried about their children’s future,” she added.

Miles said The Smallest Things had written an open letter to health secretary Wes Streeting, signed by more than 1,000 people, calling for “urgent changes” to support the mental health of families of premature babies.

“These include the provision of onsite accommodation, support with the transition from hospital to home, new six-week and six-month ‘after NICU’ wellbeing checks and access to psychological support when and how parents need it,” she said.

She added that companies like Super Dinky provide vital support for parents of premature babies.

“Dressing your baby for the first time in neonatal care is a huge milestone because so many premature babies are unable to wear clothes initially,” she said. “Choosing an outfit and dressing your premature baby for the first time is a special moment and one that helps parents feel more like a mum or dad and less like a bystander in their baby’s care.”

Be Your Own Boss is available to watch now on ITV and ITVX. 

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