Supporting parents of premature babies through their baby’s unique journey. We help connect parents to each other, to family and friends, and to national and local support groups.
Information
As well as the care of expert medical staff, and the love and support of friends and family, parents of premature babies are also in desperate need of information. It is often hard to take in everything nurses and doctors are telling you, so we have summarised in these pages some of the key information you will find most useful. Let us know about any other information you would find useful or about great sources of information.
Around 12% of babies are now born prematurely in UK and USA. They look different to full-term babies and they can find simple things like feeding and breathing difficult to do, but the good news is...
The neonatal unit (NICU) is full of machinery, noise, bleeps and activity. It can seem a very unrestful place for premature babies with staff, parents and visitors coming and going and a seemingly...
The joy of expecting a baby can be abruptly halted by giving birth to a premature baby. Instead you feel anxious, fearful and overwhelmed by the early arrival of a tiny baby that looks and seems so...
Fathers, just like mothers, are often unprepared for the frightening experience of having a premature baby in NICU.
In writing this section we thought about trying not to describe roles based...
Having a premature baby puts strain and stress on everyone in the family. It can be particularly hard on other children in the family who quickly pick up this huge event in their family life.
Your...
Friends and family are a key support to parents at this difficult and anxious time. But quite often they are not sure about how to behave. Should they visit or not? Should they congratulate or not?...
The neonatal unit has been home to your baby and you since your baby’s birth. You have probably been planning to go home for many days, weeks or even months. Dates will have been...
One of the most frequent questions a mother asks is "Why was my baby born prematurely? Could I have done something to prevent it?"
In about one-third of cases, premature births...
Warning - reading below may cause distress.
Please read this only if you want to find out details about a baby’s death. Some parents prefer not to have this information.
The happiness of having...
There is a huge amount of resources available for parents of premature babies, but not all of it is easily accessible.
We use our Top 10s feature to share the resources we know about. We've...
Having a premature baby opens up a whole new language, full of medical terms that seem designed to confuse the anxious parent. It will seem a bit overwhelming to start. But don’t worry, you...
Not only is the medical jargon unfamiliar, but then everyone uses abbreviations which makes it even less clear. To help you, we've complied a list of the most common abbreviations used in NICU....