Everyone loves to wrap up with a cosy bobble hat, especially at this time of the year, but it would appear that the humble winter hat is much more than a mere accessory.

 

A hospital in the UK has credited an innovative ‘traffic light’ bobble hat campaign with saving the lives of newborn babies.

 

The Bobble Hat Care Bundle scheme involves placing a knitted bobble hat on every baby born, assessing the level of care needed, in order to cut down the number of admissions to special care units.

 

It was a group of nurses at the Royal Surrey County Hospital who came up with the idea, after watching increased numbers of babies admitted to the Special Care Unit with illnesses caused by the cold weather.

 

 

A team of expert knitters, helped by a group of Girl Guides, has been drafted into the hospital to create the hats in the traffic light colours, with each and every baby born receiving a hat.

 

Not only do the hats keep the tots warm, but they also signal the level of care required depending on the child’s condition: red is for those born prematurely, amber is for those born after a difficult labour, and green is for low-risk babies.

 

Explaining the significance of the scheme, nurse Jacqui Tingle told The Mirror: “No baby should be going to special care because it's cold. What parents forget is that the room could be really warm but a newborn has no ability to maintain its own thermal regulation for the first 48 hours of its life. When a baby's temperature drops it can cause other problems and this is one of the ways we are combating that."

 

The hat campaign has been hailed as a major success, with the number of admissions to the Special Care Unit having decreased dramatically since it was introduced. Staff at the Guildford hospital claim that the bobble hats have saved many little lives.

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