Miracle Babies Foundation

We are calling for a critical care payment for babies in neonatal care through an additional paid parental leave entitlement, where a baby is in hospital over 2 weeks. The need for financial support for families during the critical care period for premature and sick newborns will help reduce parent-baby separation, leading to improved outcomes for babies. “Mounting evidence, shows that various forms of contact [in the NICU], such as visitation, holding, parent talk, and skin to skin contact, are associated with better outcomes for infants and parents during hospitalisation and beyond. Greater visitation and infant holding is associated with better infant neurobehavioral development at discharge [18].  School-age NICU graduates whose mothers visited daily had fewer behavioural and emotional problems compared to their peers who had fewer visits [19]. Neonatal units need parents to be involved in the care of their baby. It is well evidenced breast milk is vitally important for these vulnerable babies and Family Integrated Care needs parents with their baby as much as possible. Help us call on the Government to provide a critical care payment for our most vulnerable babies and parents. We believe all Australian families deserve the same Paid Parental Leave entitlements when their baby leaves the hospital. We need your help! Please contact your MP, share your story, your voice and make this a topic for discussion today! Ask your family and networks to also support this important message for positive change. https://lnkd.in/gWAjNSxK Find your local member here: https://lnkd.in/gKrB3Am 18. https://lnkd.in/gyU9ZR2u 19. https://lnkd.in/gRmfXeyR 2GB Mark Levy Sabra Lane Peter Stefanovic Laura Jayes Tom Connell Chris Kenny Peta Credlin AO Andrew Bolt Anthony Albanese The Hon. Peter Dutton MP Angus Taylor MP Jim Chalmers Dr Michael Freelander MP Amanda Rishworth Anne Ruston Jenny Ware MP Michael Sukkar Anne Stanley Dai Le MP Ged Kearney

On Tuesday, It was a fun morning with Parramatta Leagues Club who were busy packing in time for a busy May ahead. The team spent the morning packing around 1,000 Mother’s Day Gifts that will be distributed to the Hospitals nationally. Personal cards were also written by the team, to be shared with the families at Westmead Hospital. The session was led by Kylie Murphy (Community Manager – Parra Leagues) and joining us included Parra Leagues team members from various departments. Parra Leagues is also the Presenting Partner for the Miracle Moon Walk with the team taking part each year. Thank you to those that volunteered their time and to the entire team at Parra Leagues, we’re grateful for the incredible support!

For many families, Mother’s Day is a day of cuddles and celebration — but for mums with babies in the Neonatal unit, it can be an emotional and overwhelming time. Some will be spending their very first Mother’s Day in hospital, sitting beside a humidicrib instead of at home. 💡You can help by getting your school or preschool involved in our Students in Teal - Colouring for a Cause activity! It’s simple, meaningful, and a beautiful way for students to help raise awareness for families in different walks of life. Simply colour in our Miracle Babies Heart template and decorate your classrooms in colour, love and support - no fundraising required. *However, if you would like to get the school community involved with a gold coin donation or fundraiser, please reach out for more info! 🎨 Children can colour a special Mother’s Day sheet to:  ✔ Raise awareness for the challenges faced by Neonatal families ✔ Share messages of hope and love ✔ Be part of a nationwide show of support for miracle babies mums Every colourful creation helps us continue our work supporting families impacted by a premature or sick birth. Reach out to community@miraclebabies.org.au to receive our Miracle Babies Heart, colouring-in page. 

The Miracle Babies team is proud to kick off 20 years of Miracle Babies with Liverpool Hospital Neonatal Team, presenting them with their NurtureProgram Partner Hospital Partner banners this week. Liverpool Hospital’s Neonatal Unit have always been so supportive of building our NurtureProgram, their commitment to piloting new services and resources with families and staff has helped to shape our program and support its expansion, now available nationally in neonatal units across Australia.    “Personally, MBF has contributed to my clinical care for families. NurtureProgram team members notifying me that a mother, because of distress , may not have understood our last conversation. I didn’t know that after weeks of bed rest a mother may be so weak that she couldn’t walk. That all mother’s want accommodation to be with their babies, not only those mothers who live at a great distance.” Dr Robert Guaran.   Thank you to all the neonatal staff throughout Australia who continue to work and partner with us in our NurtureProgram – peer support services and resources for premature and sick babies and their families. Our NurtureProgram also provides ongoing support through the transition to home with our community NurtureGroups after discharge and our information hub helping parents and past patients to be the best advocates for their child and themselves, guiding from pregnancy right through to adulthood. Robert Guaran Kylie Pussell Danielle Hodgson Thalia Del Castillo Jamie-Lee Lelliott Michelle DiBiasi Chantelle Ahmed

Miracle Babies Foundation continues to call on the Australian Government to provide further support for families of premature or sick babies through their extended neonatal stay in hospital, now urgently calling for a Critical Care Leave Payment. Miracle Babies Foundation had proposed changes to the Australian Government Paid Parental Leave (PPL) Legislation and Parental Leave Pay (PLP) Scheme for families who have a baby hospitalised for two weeks or more. The proposed entitlements: ⚪️Primary carers receive one week of extra Parental Leave Pay for every week a baby is in hospital beyond two weeks, with a maximum of 14 weeks extra pay. ⚪️Fathers and partners receive an additional two weeks of extra Dad and Partner Pay. If parents receive a payment during the critical care period supporting this time in hospital (maximum of 14 weeks), it would help to reduce the financial burden during a significantly vulnerable time. “In an Australian study of families of babies admitted to a NICU for two or more weeks, the median cost per week was approximately one quarter of the average gross weekly income, with major costs related to lost income, food and transport expenses”. This payment would allow parents to focus on their baby in hospital, whilst still having their full Government Paid Parental Leave available on discharge, so that they too get to spend the same amount of time as other Australian families at home with their baby. This is even more important with a premature or sick baby who may be immunocompromised, be in and out of hospital or require medical appointments for the first year of their life. Recently, we have been asking families and Health Care Professionals impacted or passionate about supporting our message to please write to your local MP and to share our call. If you have supported our message and written to your local MP, leave a comment below. We are still continuing to ask our community to help support our message. Please click here to find out more information and show your support: https://lnkd.in/gWAjNSxK Michael Sukkar Angus Taylor MP Amanda Rishworth The Hon. Peter Dutton MP Anthony Albanese Dr Mike Freelander MP Mark Butler Ged Kearney Anne Ruston Jenny Ware MP Anne Stanley Dai Le MP

Staff Highlight: Today we celebrate Thalia Del Castillo our Marketing Coordinator on her two years anniversary with Miracle Babies. Congratulations Thalia!   Thalia joined Miracle Babies with a personal connection to the cause. Thalia has a partner who was born prematurely, suffering ongoing challenges in his adult life. Learning of and understanding the experiences of families beyond the NICU, she is very passionate about making a difference and supporting the work of the Foundation.   "I feel really lucky to be an employee of Miracle Babies. It’s a privilege to work alongside such dedicated and talented people, all working together to help support families and their babies. It's been a wonderful 2 years!"   Thank you Thalia, for the amazing work that you do and we are so incredibly lucky to celebrate another year of having you on our team.

Huge announcement! NurtureTime launches at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. For years Miracle Babies has been providing resources to families while their baby spends time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or Special Care Nursery in Victorian Hospitals, now families will have access to face-to-face peer support from Miracle Babies during their stay in the neonatal unit. This support will be delivered to parents inside the Hospital as their baby is admitted and will follow through to after discharge and beyond with Miracle Babies NurtureGroups running in Heidelberg and Geelong. From today, NurtureTime at The Royal Children's Hospital will be delivered Fortnightly on Wednesdays in the neonatal unit by Alyce Farrugia, who is one of our Miracle Babies Foundation NurtureProgram Support Workers. Alyce also runs our Heidelberg NurtureGroup fortnightly on Wednesdays. Now with her support inside the Hospital, she will be there for families throughout their entire neonatal journey and after they are discharged. Alyce experienced a premature birth with her identical twin girls who were born at 24 weeks at Royal Women's Hospital. Maddison spent 118 days in NICU and Paige unfortunately passed away shortly after the birth. Maddison had a very tumultuous time in hospital and Alyce found talking to experienced premmie mums and dads so valuable. After Maddison was discharged, Alyce found the Melbourne Miracle Babies NurtureGroup and began attending. After 2 years, Alyce started coordinating the group and has ever since. We look forward to providing this support in Melbourne for families with a premature or sick newborn. If you would like to learn more about NurtureTime in Melbourne, please click here to access our blog: https://lnkd.in/gw7ZaVBD

Nurture Guide Book - New and Improved We recently updated the information and appearance of our Nurture Guide Book that is found in our NICU Survival packs, a vital resource given to families when they are in the Neonatal unit. Thank you to Chiesi Australia for your support. Nurture – guiding you through your hospital journey with a premature or sick newborn is an in-depth and comprehensive book touching on issues and concerns that affect families dealing with the birth of a premature or sick newborn. The 128-page book has been developed with the help and guidance of health professionals and parents whose babies took an unfamiliar and unexpected journey, requiring specialist care in the first few days, weeks or months of their lives. It covers many aspects and concerns shared by parents to give readers a better understanding of neonatal care 'in a most complete and easily readable way'. We are so proud of the development of this book and has been appreciated by many families with a premature or sick newborn. “I found Nurture very valuable. It helped us make sense of a lot of things in the early days. I would read it at night when I came home from NICU.” - Amanda, NICU Mum If you would like to learn more about our nurture book or other resources, please click here: https://lnkd.in/gNXMEuCZ Please note: over the coming weeks our NICU Survival Packs will have the updated version of Nurture Book that will be sent to hospitals. Thank you to the following team and health professionals who have contributed to the review and update of the Nurture Book. Dr Nele Legge Joanne Sheils margaret broom Kylie Pussell Tina Parker Danielle Hodgson Megan Norbury Philippa Grimston Meghan Billinghurst Ashleigh Evans

Last week, The Hon Sally Quinnell NSW MP for Camden met with our CEO, Kylie Pussell and our COO, Danielle Hodgson. It was a great opportunity to share about Miracle Babies Foundation and support available for all lives impacted by a premature or sick birth in the Camden region of NSW and explore ways for the NSW Government to support our vital work.   The Camden Local Government Area (LGA) has one of the highest proportions of children in NSW aged between 0 and 11 years and is a rapidly increasing area of newborns and young families.

Thank you Harcourts Foundation for your wonderful support.