Support for families of premature babies
Having a premature baby in hospital is a very stressful experience, and the worries can continue even after you bring your baby home. Unfortunately, sometimes even good friends and family may struggle to understand what it is like for you. It can also be difficult to bond with a new mothers’ group when your experiences of birth and a new baby are so very different to those of a mother with a full term baby.
Here are some tips from other premmie mums.
If you are looking for a way to meet other parents who understand what you’re going through, either while your baby is in hospital or after they come home, here are a few places you can make new friends and ask any questions about life with a premmie.
L’il Aussie Prems
www.lilaussieprems.com.au
An Australian online support site for parents and families of premature & SCN babies. This site has a very friendly, very easy to use forum, as well as offering free blog space, a diary option, galleries of premmie photos and lots of other things. (I’m biased, I like it a lot!)
Austprem
http://www.austprem.org.au/
Austprem also have a forum but using a different format to L’il Aussie Prems. They have a newsletter called Austprem Ink.
National Premmie Foundation
http://www.prembaby.org.au/
The NPF are a coalition of support groups around Australia. They have a national call number 1300 PREM BABY (1300 773 622)
Perth Early Babies Group
www.pebg.tk
PEBG hold morning tea meetings at Princess Margaret Hospital (no need to have a child at PMH to join them). They also have a forum, similar to Austprem’s, at http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/earlybud/index.html
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Some general parenting websites also provide a place to discuss premmie issues
Essential Baby - http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/ have a forum section called Babies Born Early
Bub Hub has an information section at http://www.bubhub.com.au/loungepremmie.php which also links through to the premmie section of their forum
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Not in Perth? Here are some local premmie sites from other parts of Australia.
QLD
http://www.brisbanepremmies.com/
NSW
http://www.centralcoastprems.com/
http://www.littlewonders.org.au
http://www.miraclebabies.com.au
http://www.prematurebabes.org/
VIC
http://www.lifeslittletreasures.org.au/
http://www.featherweightclub.com
SA
by fiona dorgan
Hi just like to let your visitors know that Moment by Moment also provides a premmie baby support forum http://premmiebabyforum.com.au
we also provide information and other resources about premature birth and high risk pregnancies.
I also like to let your visitors know about Central Coast Prems http://www.centralcoastprems.com we are based on the central coast of NSW and meet on the last wed of each month you can contact group leader Fiona at 0408689330
by shanelle
hi, my name is shanelle and i had i prematue baby his name is jackson and he was born at 33 weeks.hes such a wonderful baby he has growen so fast since birth and hes finaly a healthy 9month old boy.having a prem baby was sdo stressful as i never knew what was going on as he was my first baby i didnt know what to to. but thenx to all the all the nursing staff at kemh i made it through all the bad times.So i just won to say thankyou to all the nurses that heled my son you all did a terifict job thankyou once again.
hi, my name is fiona. ive had 2 babies premature.jack was born at 28 weeks hes a miracle child. we were told he was going to die we nearly lost him so many times. 12 years later katie was born at 30 weeks. she was a bit stronger than jack but she had her moments. we are so lucky to have them, it was very hard for me. i felt like a failure. i know myself and tim my husband are so lucky have them both. they are gods gift to us and we just treasure them every day!! UP THE REBELS!! WE LIVE IN CORK, IRELAND WE JUST OUR HURLING!!