Hand-made Baby Quilts to be Presented to Baby TALK Families

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. —  Thirteen expectant families who have been working with Baby TALK, a University of Alabama-based community engagement program building parent-infant relationships, will be presented with a handmade quilt Wednesday, April 25 at 10 a.m. at Maude L. Whatley Health Center, 2731 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., in Tuscaloosa.

Carolyn Zeanah, a Capstone Village resident, spent numerous months creating 13 quilts to be donated to expectant mothers for their new babies.

Each quilt is designed with a theme so that the quilt can be used for swaddling a new baby in warmth while also providing an opportunity for talking with and interacting with the baby. The themes represented on each of the unique quilts help parents talk to their children about such things as colors, shapes and designs.

On each quilt there is a place for the child’s name to be recorded as well as the child’s birth date.

Zeanah said that creating and sharing the quilts is her way of hugging each child who receives one.

Baby TALK, part of Child Development Resources in the UA College of Human Environmental Sciences, has been working with parents at Maude Whatley since March 2005, providing child development information and parenting support and resources, as well as free age-appropriate board books that encourage reading between parents and their children.

Sharing the quilts created by Zeanah creates another opportunity to support parents in meeting their children’s emotional and physical needs.