I have been making Octopus for Premature Babies for a number of years. I started when I was living in Qatar as we had a little crochet group that would get together, make octopus and donate them to local hospitals.

A Danish hospital found that when premature babies cuddled with the octopus they had a more regular heart rate and better oxygenation. The magic is in the tentacles, as they mimic the umbilical cord, which babies in utero often play with. The tentacles not only offer a form of therapeutic comfort and calmness for the babies, but they can also act as a distraction to reduce babies accidentally pulling out the cables and cords attached to them.

Over time I developed my own pattern as I wanted to make fun looking octopus and share how to make them with others.

What you need to make an Octopus for a premature baby:

• DK Size, Cotton Yarn in two contrasting colours
• Some black yarn to embroidery the face
• Crochet Hook – I am using my 2.5mm Clover Amour Hook *
• Toy Stuffing
• Yarn Needle
• Stitch Markers
• Pins
• Pair of scissors

More Information:

It is important that you use cotton yarn for this project so that you reduce shedding and for easy washing. I also like to crochet my octopus using Yarn Under as I find that my stitches are so much tighter and reduces the chance of toy stuffing coming out.

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* Disclosure: NJCraftyCreations is reader-supported. I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission as an Amazon Associate.