ATTENTION MELBOURNE RESIDENTS - DO YOU KNIT OR SEW?

Every year in Australia, 48,000 babies are born premature or sick and sadly, up to 1,000 of these babies will lose their fight for life.

When a baby is born unexpectedly, a family’s world is turned upside down. Sitting beside a humidicrib while their baby is being cared for in the NICU or Special Care Nursery is not what any parent envisages the first few days, weeks or months of their baby’s life would look like.

At times like this, fear, isolation and helplessness sets in and suddenly doing everyday tasks feels impossible. Many parents struggle to cope with the emotional and physical toll of this traumatic experience. When a baby is born premature or sick, it is the doctors and nurses’ priority to care for these tiny, vulnerable newborns. But who is there for the parents as they try to comprehend the experience on their own?

Miracle Babies Foundation supports these families through services that connect them with others who understand what they are going through. Working in close partnership with hospitals and medical professionals, Miracle Babies also provides important resources to hospitals that are given to these families, as they watch their baby fighting for their life. These resources give them the information, tools and support that they need to cope with the experience and navigate the NICU or SCN journey, alongside peer support provided within the NICU or Special Care unit.

Sadly, some families are also coping with the loss of their baby and for these families, Miracle Babies provides support and solace, to remember their miracle and the short time they spent together.

Can you help?

A great way to share your love of knitting and sewing is by helping Miracle Babies in their support for Miracle families and the hospitals that care for them.

Beanies are included in our NICU Survival Packs for parents with babies who are in neonatal intensive care units or special care nurseries, and blankets are included inside Memory Boxes for bereaved parents.

Miracle Babies Foundation is in desperate need of sewn and knitted matching blankets to be placed within these Memory Boxes, alongside beanies for babies in specialised care.

Links to Knitting and Sewing Patterns

Drop your blankets and beanies to Tommee Tippee

To help us out, and as a longstanding supporter of Miracle Babies Foundation, Corporate Partner Tommee Tippee have launched our new local drop off point in Victoria, located in Mt Waverley. To organise date and time for drop off, please email: [email protected]

Tommee Tippee will then handle the postage of all of the items and send them directly to us here at Miracle Babies, to pack into the Memory Boxes.

Find out more about Tommee Tippee: www.tommeetippee.com.au

Items being sent from other states (outside of Victoria), can be sent to Miracle Babies Foundation, PO Box 95, Moorebank NSW 1875.

Thank you Tommee Tippee for your amazing, ongoing support and to all of our knitters and sewers across the country for your time, dedication and care for premature and sick newborns and their families.