As ‘World Prematurity Day’ on November 17 draws closer, Australian co-founding body, National Premmie Foundation is gearing up for a brand re-launch.

National Premmie Foundation is marking World Prematurity Day with a re-launch of their brand to help put the spotlight on a cause that affects over 45,000 babies who are admitted into neonatal intensive and special care units every year in Australia.

President of National Premmie Foundation Mr Sean Simpson said guests of the foundation’s re-launch will be catered to with dinner and drinks, guest speakers and entertainment.

“The night will kick off a series of heightened activities across the month and help to generate funds for the foundation,” he said.

Mr Simpson added a plea to consider the emotional, financial and physical stress that loved ones face with premature babies.

“It’s our aim to ensure parents, friends and family know they have resources and support available to them.

“1300 babies are admitted to hospital each year weighing less than 1000 grams – that’s smaller than a bag of sugar,” he said.

Organisers of this year’s World Prematurity Day hope to harness the power of social media to promote the awareness of high risk pregnancies and premature babies.

The Facebook event has global affiliations with foundations in the United States of America, Europe and Africa all committed to undertaking local activities to help support the desired outcomes for World Prematurity Day.

People can show their support for global prematurity prevention efforts by going to www.facebook.com/WorldPrematurityDay and joining the virtual campaign by changing their Facebook status to reflect a prematurity awareness message on November 17.

In addition to requesting Facebook support, the National Premmie Foundation is distributing gift bags to parents of premature babies in select hospitals.

The National Premmie Foundation partners with March of Dimes (USA), the European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (EFCNI) and Africa-based LittleBigSouls International Foundation in the establishing of World Prematurity Day.

About the National Premmie Foundation
A national organization involving Australia’s premature baby support groups, that unifies and acts as a guiding body for existing prem support groups, help to create new ones, help to improve the treatments and outcomes available for premature infants, and represent the interests of these infants and their families in terms of health policies, funding and standards of care.

L’il Aussie Prems is a proud member group of the National Premmie Foundation.

 

November is global prematurity awareness month & Lifes Little Treasures Foundation’s “Walk for Prems” will be the opening event for the Australian observance of global prematurity awareness month which culminates for National Premmie Day on the 17th November 2011.

All locations have been choosen as they have pram friendly tracks. In Melbourne, once you cross the finish line, pull out the picnic rug, recover with a tasty sausage and let the kids enjoy great entertainment and music. There will be market stalls to explore, cool down massages and a raffle with great prizes.

In Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart and Perth come and meet other families of premature/sick babies, enjoy going for a social walk and then enjoy a BYO picnic.

The Life’s Little Treasures Foundation provides information and support to families of children born premature or sick. Their services can be found throughout hospitals in Australia as well as supporting families within the community once they come home.

Registrations are now open.

The major walk/fun run will be held at Albert Park Lake in Melbourne where participants can take part in a timed 10km run, 5km run or 5km walk. This will be followed by a wide range of entertainment including music, jumping castle, face-painting and much more.

Sydney, Hobart, Adelaide, Country Vic (Shepparton) and Perth will hold smaller events consisting of a social walk and BYO picnic.

Visit www.lifeslittletreasures.org.au

L’il Aussie Prems is a proud supporter of the Walk for Prems event and an online support partner of the Lifes Little Treasures Foundation since 2007.

Yasminah’s Gift Of Hope together with L’il Aussie Prems are offering a message of support, understanding by providing a unique “Premmie Gift Of Hope Journal” for families currently in the neonatal intensive care unit throughout Australia.

We have been working together for the past 12 months to create these journals for parents to record their babies journey whilst they are on the rollercoaster ride of birth prematurely. Our journals are specifically designed to be placed inside the pocket of your child’s record book given to you at the hospital.

Included in the Premmie Gift Of Hope Journal is;

• 48 page full clour hard cover journal
• Helpful articles relating to premature birth
• Special page to record details of your child’s birth
• Pages for hand and foot prints
• Pages to add photos taken along your journey

Our Premmie Gift Of Hope Journals are donated free to families so we kindly ask that you help us by sponsoring a ‘Premmie Gift Of Hope‘ for $4 in honour of your premmie child. Donations $2 and over are tax deductible and you are welcome to sponsor as many journals as you wish. You may like to set up a Hero Page in honour of your child as you approach their birthday, corrected birthday or estimated due date to raise funds to help us provide Premmie Gift’s Of Hope in honour of your child. It is very easy to become a hero and build your own fundraising page , which only takes just a few minutes to set up.

Once your Hero Page is set up, you can email a link to your family, friends and colleagues and ask them to support you in your fundraising efforts. You can even post the link to your individual fundraising page to your Facebook and Twitter accounts to help spread awareness and ask for support.

Help us to give these families hope, light, love and happiness whilst they follow the same path that many of us have personally experienced.

We hope that our Gift will become a treasured keepsake of the precious time their child spent in hospital.

Thank you for your support ♥ Julia, Bec, Erin & the LAP & YGOH Teams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our “Green for Prems” day was a lot of fun. Everyone was able to join in by wearing something green. We saw photos of grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends & the kids having a great day. People had celebatory cakes, organised a walk which 70 odd people attended, t-shirts being created specifically for the day & a fun video was created by Earlybirds which you can view below.

Below are just a few of the 1000′s of families & children who dressed in green in celebration of the day.

Corinne out at lunch with friends and their prem bubs  who met in the NICU to celebrate wear Green for Prems day.

Corinne’s thoughts about the day:

I think this event was a great idea to raise awareness within the community

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Mel & baby Zachery proudly wearing green

Mel’s thoughts about the day:

My son, Zachery was born 14weeks early, weighing in at 1005g (2lb 3.5oz) in October, 2010. Zachery has just turned 6 months and is as amazing as ever! We proudly wore green & our bracelet. Whilst Zac’s hand was too small for a band we wore green on the day to show our support to the other premmie families.

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BJ & her kids all wearing green. Her last 2 children were premmies

Mel has 6 children. Her 2 premmies were born at 34 weeks and 33weeks
Logan weighed 5lb2 and is now 3.5yrs and weighs 16kg
Declan weighed 5lb2 and is now 17mths and weighs 10kg

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Jasmine is wearing a gorgeous t-shirt made by her mum’s good friend Rebecca. Her t-shirt says “I’m a Little Aussie Prem Miracle” with her birthweight, gestation on the back along with a picture of her the night she was born.

Vicky’s thoughts about the day:
I hope “Green for Prems” becomes an annual celebration of all our little miracles and it gets bigger and better every year!!!

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Mum Alex with Felix born at 31+2 weeks weighing 1586 grams

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Master Jack strutting his “green” stuff.

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Ayden loving his green. Born at 35wks weighing 3620 grams

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Phoenix happily wearing green. Born at 28+6 weeks weighing 828 grams.

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Master Nixon created a sign to take to preschool asking people to wear green. Born at 32 weeks.

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Master Ronan born at 27+3 weeks holding his new baby sister.

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Earlybirds Team all wearing green to help give people inspiration

Lucinda, NSW
Studying nursing often brings the challenge of revisiting situations I lived through with my three prems. Ironically, on the Green for Prems day a very heated debate started in my tutorial where the topic was “is it ethical to prolong the life of suffering prem babies”. A woman sitting next to me got very upset and explained she had had two prems and was very emotional when it came to this sort of subject. I looked down and saw the green “I love a prem miracle” band I was wearing and slid it over to her with a smile and a wink. I love that we both know exactly what each other have experienced and we are united in our understanding. The green band helped her continue on with her day, and cope with the ignorant comments other students made in the debate.

Jenny, VIC
It was a day that brought so many people together to show their support for such special little people. It also highlighted places to find support for families going through the prem jounery. There are so many families who go through this alone “Green for Prems” showed them they are not alone. It also was a day to reflect on what our prems had gone through and a day to remembered the prems that grew wings. A very special day for very special people.

Rebecca, NSW
I loved that it brought awareness to premature births. I had friends who live all over the world telling me they wore green on the day. It was lovely to celebrate the births of our strong babies and it was a reminder to me to be thankful for what I have.

Sally, WA
The awareness it brought to prematurity and to be able to support such an important cause without doing too much. I absolutely loved all the photos everyone shared of their gorgeous children wearing the bands and in green clothing. It was fantastic. Thanks!

Rebecca, QLD
I liked getting extra bands for family and friends and they wore them with pride for the four premmie babes I have had. I am still wearing mine with pride and love the fact they are bright green and draw attention. I look forward to similar events.

Michelle, VIC
It was such a celebration for my boys Archer ex 25 weeker and Jude ex 30 weeker. A time to reflect how far they have both come. We brought bands for all of our family members and sent them out in the post so they could proudly wear them on Weds the 6th. My husband tells me his band will have to wear off his arm because there is no way he is taking it off. It was an emtional day for me and everytime i watched them play and laugh i would cry such happy tears they are truly my little miracles!!! Thankyou for creating this special day for all of us premmie families. xo

Sophie, QLD
What I liked best about green for prems day was that it brought awareness to people that don’t understand how hard it is to have a prem baby! (I know I didnt before I had my 29 weeker). It also was a day where the families of a prem baby could wear there green bands and feel proud about how strong they were to go through something like that! I really hope they have green for prems day again.

Ruth, WA
What we loved best as a family about Green for Prems day was the joy of sharing info about our premmies! We all wore our bands proudly, which led to many questions about the bands and what they are for. We have been thrilled to tell others about support available such as this one, and to share info about premature babies, including our own beautiful little man (he was a 25 week preemie). That was the biggest gift for us on Green for Prems day, it was wonderful to feel a part of making the knowledge more widespread. Thank you for getting all our bands to us on time!

Our bands are available on the website throughout the year. All sold out bands are now in stock. We now have “Premmie & Proud” bands available for the “older” premmie generations in adult & medium sizes.

Visit www.lilaussieprems.com.au