This hospital holds a graduation ceremony for babies leaving intensive care

Graduating from university is no easy feat, and it takes years of preparation. But students aren't the only ones who get to don the reconisable mortar board.

Babies taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Birthplace, a birthing and family care centre in North Carolina, also get one too.

On average, 183 babies are delivered every month at The Birthplace, and some of them stay for a long time.

For babies who are born six or more weeks premature, when they leave intensive care to go home, the nurses hold a special ceremony for them.

Complete with a personalised graduation cap made out of foam sheets, and a portrait.

It's a massive cute fest - just check out this video!

One of the centre's nurses, Melissa Jordan, told BuzzFeed:

We make sure these babies are being fed and cared and loved for, and of course that the parents get to bond with them while they're in the NICU,

Leaving the NICU can be joyful but also scary and nerve-wracking, so this was our way of bringing a little normalcy to taking the baby home.

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