The ability of mothers to care for their infants after discharge is critical. Mothers’ lack of readiness to care for premature infants at the time of discharge is also associated with potential negative consequences.
The launch of “Purple November”, a month-long awareness campaign by LittleBigSouls for premature babies in Ghana has highlighted a few concerns with a positive look on the way forward for preemies.
Mrs. Edith Uyovbukerhi, Co-founder of LittleBigSouls, who spoke at the Purple November launch highlighted the trauma and emotional distress that comes with having preterm babies while recalling her unfortunate incident in 2003 when she lost her preemie child.
She stated that mothers in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) are usually unhappy because they are full of anxiety and fears because they do not know what will happen to their babies, and these mothers are left with no choice but to cope with the sad realities.
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“We are all expectant when we are having babies. When you go to the NICUs in Ghana, the difference with NICU compared to the maternity ward is the excitement from the mothers,” she said.
LittleBigSouls has for many years organized public awareness programs with ‘preemie’ ambassadors – older children and grown-ups who were born prematurely – to show parents that like all other babies, preemies are gifts from God who grow to become healthy and successful people.
Parents also receive care packs with essentials, like preemie nappies (which are much smaller than regular baby nappies) and baby hats, since preemies need to have their heads covered. Sometimes, the charity intervenes financially to help parents settle medical bills.
Uyovbukerhi at the “Purple November” launch further urged doctors, nurses, and midwives to join forces to consistently provide the very best care, before, during, and after birth as a basic means for improving care for mothers and preemies whilst encouraging fathers to also support in the daily activities of mothers caring for preterm.
This year for World Prematurity Day, LittleBigSouls is raising awareness about Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), donating equipment to Neonatal Intensive Care Units, and climaxing the month-long awareness campaign with a “Cause for Praise” event for preemies with the global call to action “A Parent’s embrace: a powerful therapy, enable skin-to-skin contact from the moment of birth.”
Visit www.littlebigsoulsghana.com for a month-long event calendar and follow LittleBigSoulsGhana on social media for activities.