Northridge NICU Commemorates Newborns' Milestones With Charms

NORTHRIDGE (CBSLA.com) — A baby's journey through the neonatal intensive care unit is full of challenges to overcome.

Sometimes, the progress comes in baby steps, such as when a baby learns to bottle feed.

Now, the NICU at the Northridge Hospital Medical Center is giving mothers a way to remember those hard-won triumphs -- by gifting them charms for each accomplishment.

The colorful, customized beads are added to a lariat. Upon graduation from the NICU, a mother can wear them as a necklace or save them as a keepsake.

New mother Natasha Dahaboreh, whose twins are being cared for in the NICU, said she'll keep the beads in a baby book.

The first of the 20 glass beads in the series is a caterpillar and the last is a butterfly.

"[It's] to remember all the things your baby  went through, to validate that it's a journey," NICU nurse Susan Daw said.