NICU Babies Dress as Lions and Giraffes for Annual Read-A-Thon
Hollywood, Fla. – October 02, 2026 -- Five babies in the neonatal intensive care unit at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital at Memorial Hospital Miramar dressed up as a lion, a zebra, a monkey and twin giraffes for this year's Babies with Books Read-A-Thon, marking the hospital's seventh year participating in the national event.
Parents read aloud to babies during the jungle-themed celebration
Families, siblings and caregivers gathered bedside to read to the costumed infants as part of the 2026 Read-A-Thon, which ran September 14-24 during National Literacy Month. The event encourages reading aloud to NICU babies to support early language and brain development and to give families a bonding moment during what can be a stressful hospital stay.
Katherine Zaensi, whose daughter was dressed in zebra stripes, said seeing her baby dressed up "brings light" to the difficulty of having a child in the NICU.