Small Packages : Preemie Store in Fountain Valley Has Clothes for the Littlest Guys and Girls

Melinda Wilson’s store is filled with tiny dresses, tiny bottles, tiny shoes, tiny hats and boots, even teeny-tiny tuxedos.

The only shop of its kind in Southern California and possibly in the country, the Preemie Store. . .and More offers items created especially for smaller-than-average infants.

Although premature or underweight babies make up about 8% of children born in the United States--about 250,000 a year--their needs are virtually ignored in the marketplace.

Department stores offer little or nothing in the way of clothing and accessories for extra-small babies. And hospital care usually begins and ends with medical treatment.

Many parents resort to dressing their children in doll clothes, waiting for them to grow into department-store sizes.

The Preemie Store offers parents not only the opportunity to outfit their infants in clothes made just for them, but also a chance to feel like parents.

“Hospitals provide the high-tech stuff; we provide the low-tech,” says Wilson, a registered nurse who opened the Preemie Store almost three years ago.

“When a baby is in the hospital, the nurses and the doctors have control over the whole situation; it’s their show,” she says. “It’s so important for parents to bond with the baby, to participate in the care of the baby. Just bringing a T-shirt gives mom a chance to play mommy, and makes her feel more in control. It provides normalcy.”

Wilson, who worked in prenatal intensive care units throughout Southern California for 17 years, says she opened the store to fill the void she saw for parents and for preemie care. “I wanted to do something for the parents,” she says. “I saw how parents were being treated and how babies were being dressed.”

Wilson, 39, says many parents are told by nurses to dress their babies in Cabbage Patch doll clothes, which can be dangerous. “Doll clothes are not flame retardant and are scratchy for babies’ skin,” she says. “When they are that small, their skin is often translucent.”

Whereas the average newborn weighs about seven pounds, those born prematurely or small for gestational age weigh less than 5 1/2 pounds. Of those who are smaller than average, two-thirds are premature and one-third are merely low birth-weight, says Dr. Jeffrey Pomerance, director of Neonatology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Wilson, who is married but has no children of her own (“I’ve taken care of more babies than I could ever have”) provides more than just clothing and accessories to her customers. She acts as a counselor and friend to parents who often have no one to talk to about their particular traumas--having a child in the hospital or having an underweight child. She even makes occasional house calls to mothers in distress.

“I’m more than just a store; I’m a social service,” she says.

Blair Yellow Wings discovered the Preemie Store last year after she gave birth to twin girls five weeks early.

Stacia and Courtney, now 14 months old, each weighed about four pounds at birth and spent several days in the hospital.

“None of the hospital clothes fit them,” says Yellow Wings , 39, who lives in Fountain Valley with her husband, Duane. “The T-shirts I bought for them at the Preemie Store were cheerful and colorful. The girls wouldn’t know the difference, but it helped me.

“This woman is full of information and support,” she says of Wilson. “She came to the house one night when I was stressed out, and talked to me. I was able to call her when I needed her, and she gave me referral numbers. She’s a great source and an inspiration. Being a nurse, she understood a lot.”

And as a nurse who has cared for hundreds of preemie babies, Wilson recognizes premature babies’ other special needs. She sells breast pumps (preemies are often too week to suck), developmental toys, nipples, “mouse-sized” pacifiers, diapers, books for parents on preemie care, and special pillows for extra-fragile preemie heads.

She even sells black velour tuxedos with little red bow ties especially for a baby’s homecoming.

“It’s a big day when the baby comes home,” Wilson says. “The baby fought hard to make it, and it usually gets taken care of very well. Parents think nothing of spending what they can for that baby.” For those children who don’t make it, Wilson sells white burial gowns.

The store is painted in calming pastels, and mobiles dangle from cribs. Dolls from two to eight pounds sit on display wearing colorful baby outfits, and rattles and stuffed animals sit beside them. An incubator stands in the corner, decorated with toys and shoes. Part of a wall is devoted to pictures of Wilson’s clients and their babies. The Preemie Store is, in many ways, an oasis for fathers and mothers, many of whom travel to a hospital three times a day to visit their babies or to deliver breast milk, Wilson says.

Kathy and John Rogan found solace in her store, which John discovered shortly after their daughter was born at only 28 weeks gestation.

Keegan Rogan was born July 14 weighing two pounds, and she spent six weeks in Long Beach Memorial hospital.

After she was safely out of danger, John Rogan set about finding clothes for his new daughter. But he had very little luck.

Department stores insisted there was not enough demand to stock clothes for premature or underweight babies. And salespeople had no idea where he should look.

“The stores told me there was stuff available, but they didn’t know where to get it, and they had none in stock,” Rogan says.

He inadvertently heard about the Preemie Store, and says “when I went in there, I was astonished. I loaded up with shirts and gowns; Melinda even had items the nurses had never seen. “

Keegan now weighs 4 1/2 pounds, and the T-shirt Rogan bought her a month ago is snug. But now he doesn’t have to worry about keeping a shirt on her back.

“Being able to buy something for your baby is an extremely strong bonding experience, and important,” says Rogan, 49, who lives with his wife in Newport Beach. “It makes you feel like you in fact have a baby, and the baby will be (coming) home, and the baby needs to be clothed.”

Wilson no longer practices nursing; since the Preemie Store opened in November, 1989, she has been operating it virtually by herself. Last year business was up 85% from the year before, and this year rose 50% from July to August.

There are a number of mail-order businesses that specialize in preemie clothing, and Wilson says about a quarter of her customers place orders through her her toll-free line ((800) O-SO-TINY). Still people have come from Santa Monica and San Diego to visit the store.

Her success can in part be attributed to the growing market for under-size children. Thanks to improvements in technology, babies are not only going home from the hospital smaller, but more preemies are surviving now, says Dorothy Williams, coordinator of Good Beginnings, a parent support group at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Hospitals, too, are realizing the importance of allowing parents to fuss over their newborns, even if they are in the hospital.

“Some years back, parents were not asked or encouraged to get things for their babies when they were that small,” says Williams, who refers parents of preemies to Wilson’s store. “Now more attention is being paid to babies having things that are geared to them.”

Williams herself had premature twins 12 years ago and recalls the difficulty in finding clothes for them. “Parents want to do things that are nurturing, and they like to dress their babies,” she says. “But they feel helpless. The clothes make them look like real babies to them.”

Kathy, 34, who asked that her last name not be used, had a premature baby in December. He eventually died, but while he lived, she frequented the Preemie Store and found it comforting.

“Melinda was supportive emotionally, “ says the Santa Ana resident who is expecting another child in April. “It was good to find boots and hats that would fit on his little head. And for that short time, I felt like a mom.”