Swedish doctors have banned parents from bringing crotchet octopi onto hospital wards, following the growth of a trend from neighbouring Denmark.
Parents have been bringing in woollen versions of the cephalopod due to a belief - given credence by Danish doctors - that wearing them helps stabilise young infants' heart rates, as well as improving their oxygen blood levels.
However, Skåne University Hospital has issued a ban on them, with neo-natal head Berit Paul explaining, "a cloth toy can gather up bacteria and become an infection risk factor. If we let the children have these octopi, we'd have to clean them daily, and that's not a service we can provide."
We can't believe these things actually work - they've got to be squidding.
[via thelocal.se]
(Image: Sonya Green/Flickr)
