raedar63

I just thought I would throw this out there for all of the donation quilters,knitters and crocheters out there.

I currently work as Night shift house nursing supervisior in a local hospital. I have been noticing when I make rounds in the mother baby unit at night all of the girl babies have cute little hats , quilts or afgans while the little boys have on the hospital stockinette caps they put on the babies when they are freshly born and not bathed yet. I finally asked why . The reply was that they hats and blankies are all donated and there are hardly ever enough boy things donated . One nurse even said that if it was gender neutral the item still had pink in it somewhere and these "country boy" dads would never let their baby boy wear pink lol.

The tech took me in the back and showed me the tubs where the donated items were kept. Sure enough there were at least 50 little girl hats and not one boy hat . and out of the 20 or so quilts and afagans there was one little boy one.

So my plea is that those of us who donate to these types of things make more boy items! I bet project linus has the same issue. My next day off I crocheted a little hat . the next night I went to work I took it in. Well just so happens that we had a car pull up to the ED and the baby was already out ! It is in the 20's here so I am happy to say the little guy had a warm and cute little hat to show off after his shocking arrival into the world

patsynel

Thanks for this info. I make baby quilts for the new babies christened in my Church and also "Quilts for Kids". I will do more blue.

Daylesewblessed

What a heartwarming story about the new little baby!

You are so right about hospital charity blankets donated being predominately girlish. I guess we girls simply enjoy working on pink and purple things more than boyish or earth tones. Yesterday at Project Linus after all of the blankets came in, the coordinator said that she had a special request for 3 blankets for teenage boys. She found 3 that were good matches, but that about wiped out the supply of that type. For us the issue is getting enough blankets for older boys, and particularly ones that are boyish, but not juvenile (Bob the Builder, dinosaurs, cartoon looking fire trucks, etc.).

Concerning new born babies, I think a teenage father or other young new dad might be helped in adjusting to his new baby boy if it is wrapped in something he himself would like - camouflage, team sports, plaids, etc.

Dayle

Raggiemom

Excellent post. I never thought about it but I do tend to work in mostly feminine colors. I will have to get some more masculine colors to make a few blankets.

QuiltnNan

yes, indeed! more blue is in the planning from now on. thanks for the reminder

ckcowl

found that is true for most of the charities- downy quilts for kids too always have more girly quilts- i always try to make 2- one for each-
also many pediatric wards have need for (gender neutral) teen quilts- sometimes 14-15 year olds wind up in the hospital- and need a little loving warmth too- and really really love the quilts

coldquilter

I have to tell you that I belong to a quilt group that does charity quilts for kids/babies and around Christmas we did 21 quilts for specific families in our local area and we found that we had a hard time as about 60 or 70 % were boys and when we really starting looking, it's hard to find boy fabric even at the quilt shops. Seems like most has flowers or pink or something to make it more girl friendly. We are trying to be more careful to select for boys but it's difficult. Glad to know that it's not just us.

jeank

I have been preaching this to my charity group for a long time. We have delivery days and they all bring in the items. I always comment how girly everything is, especially near Valentines day and Easter.

I was on a shop hop, they had truck themed panels marked down and I purchased a lot of them. Cleaned them out. LOL

ellenmg

I have to chuckle! I volunteered to do some NICU items from donated yarn. There was lovely navy blue cotton/cashmere, orange, peach colors. Unfortunately the blue runs. But I digress.. In speaking to three people at the hospital I got three very different requests. But the pervasive theme was: They need blue stuff. Boy stuff. Manly stuff. Apparently most dads do not want to see anything the least feminine. Blue and pink/peach/orange/yellow is not the same. I get it... So while the yarn that got donated was beautiful, I will be off to AC Moore for some blue and camo yarn. Yes, I live in an area with a lot of hunters.....Blue, blue and blue...
ANd I have to agree, strictly boy fabric is hard to find. I did do a project Linus quilt that was a panel piece, cartoonish dinosaurs pushing carts and playing in the water....Best I could find...

azwendyg

Thanks for bringing this up. I've been stretching my boundaries a bit to intentionally work on more "boy" items, for the same reason. I keep seeing all kinds of girly things and hardly any for the boys.