Creating a NICU Scrapbook

Page Ideas:

🌱 “Our Beginning” pages

• Baby’s name (and what it means)

• Date and time of birth

• Gestational age and weight at birth

• A photo of baby’s first footprint or handprint (if available)

• “The day we met you” reflection page

🏥 NICU milestones (big and small!)

Encourage parents to celebrate every win:

• First time holding hands

• First kangaroo care

• First outfit or hat

• First bath

• Coming off a ventilator or CPAP

• Moving from isolette to crib

• First bottle or breastfeeding attempt

✍️ Letters to Baby

Powerful and therapeutic:

• “What we want you to know”

• “What we love about you”

• “What we hope for you”

• “What we want to remember about this time”

👣 Tiny details pages

Preemies change fast—capture the now:

• Photos or drawings of baby’s hands and feet

• Measurements written out (“Your foot was smaller than my thumb”)

• Tracings of hands or feet (ask your baby's nurse to get hand or foot prints with special ink)

🧸 Baby’s NICU world

• A page for the isolette or crib

• The care team (nurses, doctors, therapists)

• Tubes and wires explained in parents’ own words

• “Things that helped keep you safe”

🕊️ Parent feelings pages

Give permission for honesty:

• “Today was a hard day because…”

• “Today gave us hope because…”

• Gratitude pages

• Fear pages (sealed envelopes work well)

🌈 Celebrating growth

• Weekly “You are ___ weeks old today” pages

• Growth charts with notes

• Side-by-side photos showing progress

• “Look how strong you’re getting”

🧵 Sensory keepsakes

• Hospital bracelets

• Name cards from the isolette

• A tiny diaper or hat label

• Fabric swatch from first outfit

⭐ Looking forward pages

• “Things we can’t wait to do with you”

• “Your firsts after the NICU”

• Dreams for the future