Babies in stockings: the tradition continues

Newborn twins, Salvatore and Domenico, were born on December 19 at Sunnybrook. Yesterday, they were presented with a Christmas stocking handcrafted by Second World War Veterans Lorne Renaud, 86, and Martha Roy, 99. The stockings are specially created for newborn babies who are born on Christmas Day, as part of an art therapy program.

Each stocking is unique and one-of-a-kind, with a small tag sewn inside containing the words, “decorated by a Sunnybrook Veteran.” The stockings are a special remembrance and ensure that each newborn will “never forget” their birthplace and who their first Christmas gift was from.

“The Veterans just love visiting the maternal and newborn unit. This tradition is a heartfelt way of connecting Sunnybrook’s past to tiny newborns,” said Lorrie Clarke, Art Therapist at the Veterans Centre.

A small poppy is also featured at the top of each stocking.

Sunnybrook's new state-of-the-art Women and Babies program opened at the Bayview Campus in September 2010. The new unit specializes in high-risk pregnancy and critically premature babies. One in five babies weighing less than three pounds in Ontario are delivered at Sunnybrook

View the full album of the event on Flickr.