Parents of premature newborns in the region will be given more of the support they need thanks to a donation that was made official in Bathurst recently.
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Wellington's Kacey-Lee Burling represented the Miracle Babies Foundation at a Club Grants presentation in which a number of groups received funding from the Bathurst RSL Club and Bathurst Panthers.
The foundation - which aims to support premature and sick newborns, their families and the hospitals that care for them - received $5352 in Club Grants funding.
"It's going to help support local families with premature babies: helping provide a support group where parents of premature babies can go," Ms Burling said of how the money will be used.
"The problem is that we don't have a place that's safe for premature and sick newborns to go, especially for mothers.
"When they do go to the normal mothers' groups, they are dealing with a whole different set of problems.
"Premature babies come home and they may already be three months old, but they are really only a newborn. So they have a corrected age.
"And some parents don't understand the big milestones that they have already passed. For us, to have a baby gain 10 grams is a massive achievement, whereas for a normal, healthy newborn, it's just the done thing.
"And we also need support with physiotherapy, occupational therapy, the way we treat the babies. The way we even hold the babies is completely different to how you hold a healthy, full-term baby."
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Ms Burling's son Oliver was born three months early, weighing only 300 grams, and spent months in Westmead's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
"We didn't know whether we were going to bring a baby home," she said. "So when we did get home, no-one understood how isolating it was.
"When I brought him [Oliver] home, he was only 1.9 kilos, and yet he was over three-and-a-half months old."
That was three years ago, but the challenges don't stop as a premature child gets older, according to Ms Burling.
"Prematurity is a lifelong condition," she said.
"So we're still faced with the physio and OT [occupational therapy] challenges and feeding challenges and growth challenges and lung challenges that premmies face.
"He [Oliver] has chronic lung disease of prematurity, which means we can't go out to a lot of places because of COVID.
"And even RSV [respiratory syncytial virus] or a common cold can send him to the hospital and has sent him to the hospital on oxygen support because these babies are extremely vulnerable.
"And to live with that anxiety, parents and grandparents, they need the support and understanding."
Ms Burling said the Miracle Babies Foundation support group provides access online to specialists.
"We will occasionally have a sleep specialist or a breastfeeding specialist or an OT specialist," she said.
"They will give us tips and tricks on how to help our babies flourish.
"I know when my son was brought home, it was incredibly isolating and we needed that support because you don't have access to that in the bush; it's not as readily accessible in the bush.
"So to have someone come on and talk about breastfeeding or bottle feeding or even sleeping for premature babies was a great source of comfort."