"A premature baby, or preemie, is born before the 37th week of pregnancy. Premature birth occurs in between 8 percent to 10 percent of all pregnancies in the United States. Because they are born too early, preemies weigh much less than full-term babies. They may have health problems because their organs did not have enough time to develop. Preemies need special medical care in a neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. They stay there until their organ systems can work on their own." -- Medline Plus

Babies born at 23 weeks have a 17% chance of survival

Babies born at 24 weeks have a 39% chance of survival

Babies born at 25 weeks have a 50% chance of survival

"1 in 10 premature babies will develop a permanent disability such as lung disease, cerebral palsy, blindness or deafness." -- Tommy's Baby Charity

It is because of these terrifying statistics, that many parents consider having a baby be premature the same as a death sentence.

Many believe their child will never feel the same love other children feel.

They fear their babies welcome into this world will be nothing but tubes, needles, and wires.

And that is where you and your donation come in.

Donate TY Brand Beanie Babies to aid in the care and growth of premature babies.

When children are born early and aren't quite ready to face the world on their own, they are placed in units called incubators (sort of a mechanical womb) to further develop. Air quality, humidity levels, temperature controls, oxygen supply and medical lighting is provided along with whatever medical requirements are needed to encourage the baby to survive! That is the over all goal, after all, for parents to have a healthy baby to join their family and go home with them.

While in the incubators, these tiny, struggling babies require constant care and movement to maintain them and keep them as comfortable as possible (no one wants to be in a strange place, with strange machines, all alone). This is the point where your donation of a small (like the Teeny Beanie's Mc.Donalds was giving out) or regular size Ty brand Beanie Baby is desperately needed!

You see, the soft, moldable toy will be cuddled next to or under the tiny baby to hold tubing, equipment, and/or to adjust the infant in a position it is unable to hold on its own power (they're teeny tiny newborns, after all). Beyond the medical need the baby also mentally needs these Beanie Babies! They are alone inside those incubators... while a healthy baby born on or close to its due-date can be cuddled and held by their family, these premature babies we seek to help often cannot be. Quite often, they are too fragile to even be bathed beyond having a cotton ball gently and lightly pressed against their skin. Without the Ty brand Beanie Babies, they would have nothing and no one to hold onto while in the incubator. Having to see your newborn struggling to live, without being able to hold them and comfort them is a story Momarroo user Mama Penguin knows all too well.

Hospitals frequently need two or three Beanie Babies for each baby, causing thousands of these small cuddlies to be needed on a monthly basis. Your generous donation can touch these fragile little infants and provide them with comfort and necessary tactical input, helping them have a better chance of going home to be held and cuddled by their loving families. These children have a better opportunity for life with your donation, and since the Beanie Babies go home with the families once the baby leaves the hospital, it will be a constant reminder for the entire family and everyone they tell the story to, that there are generous, caring people out there who can show love for a family they have never even met. Webanswers user IMHO still has the Beanie Babies her premature born son was given.

Indeed, each child and family is greatly impacted by your donation. When the now struggling child is able to go home, the Beanie friend accompanies them as a friend and savior for life. A constant reminded of how somebody loved them enough to share such a wonderful little toy.

Please take a few minutes to gather your Beanie Babies, those of neighbors, friends and family, purchase one while doing your errands, ask at your school or place of work, or anything else you can think of.

Maybe you had some as a child you no longer play with? Maybe you have a few missing tags that you do not find valuable anymore? Without tags, they may not be able to be sold, but they are priceless to us, as they benefit the lives of the babies and their families. Perhaps you purchased a great deal of them, but their financial value did not increase as you'd hoped? Please donate them! These infants don't care if they are expensive or not, they only care that the Beanie Baby is there for them!

We are often asked "Why Ty brand? I have a number of non-Ty Beanie Babies. Can't I just send them? Isn't more better than being choosey?"
Our answer is this: Ty brand Beanie Babies are the only Beanie Babies that can withstand the safety and sterilization requirements for the hospitals. Each Beanie Baby that is donates is sterilized using intense heat. Ty Beanie Babies are made with non-toxic polyethylene pellets! These pellets are perfect because they are able to withstand the heat of sterilization and they cannot harm the baby! They are also environmentally friendly. NON-TY brand beanie babies (or Beanie Baby Impostors) are made with PVC (short for PolyVinyl Chloride), and when exposed to heat, they can produce cancer-causing vinyl chloride monomer. --Source-cqs.com

Ty is also recognized by goodforthekids.com, a site focusing on keeping children safe. That is why it is very important the Beanie Babies you donate be Ty brand! They do not need to have their tags, but if they do it saves us time (the hang tag or the tush tag, the nurses grab the heart tags when the pellets inside are hot). You can even damage the tag by folding it, or tearing it, or whatever else you feel the need to do, as we do not, have not, and will not sell these toys! They are worth more to the babies and their families than they ever were worth in dollar form, we can swear to that.