Monday 1st November marked the start of ‘Neonatal November’ – a month to acknowledge neonatal journeys and the stress and anxiety many families go through, which this year has been even more traumatic due to the lockdowns imposed to help conquer COVID19.

If the averages play true, today in New Zealand there will be 16 babies born premature and a greater number of full-term babies born who will require specialist care as a result of health issues and/or complications. They will join the hundreds of other babies already receiving specialist care in one of New Zealand’s neonatal units.

Rachel Friend, CEO of The Neonatal Trust, said “This has been another difficult year for all of us but imagine having your baby in an intensive care unit through all of this with ongoing visitation restrictions and the unknown risk of your medically fragile baby being exposed to the virus. Even though COVID19 had the majority of New Zealander’s at home during lockdown, premature and very unwell babies were still being born and needing specialized care. Parents had to grapple with not being able to see their baby round the clock as is the case in normal times. Visiting hours were limited, often only one parent allowed at a time for limited timeframes and they couldn’t lean on family or friends to visit and offer support as we had to stick to our ‘bubbles’. Plus the unknown fear of what impact this virus could have on a tiny baby – the fear these families encountered was tangible. So now more than ever we need to champion these babies and their families given the journey they’ve been through and raise awareness for them.”

“A lot of people think of only prematurity when they hear of neonatal care so we promote ‘Neonatal November’ to highlight the journeys of all babies that go through a unit, be they premature or full-term.”

“The support we receive and awareness of Neonatal November is growing year on year, with iconic building and landmarks lighting up purple for us through to businesses and airports hosting our unique donation incubator boxes we’re overwhelmed with the desire to help our campaign grow year or year. I believe that most people in New Zealand will know of someone who has had or is currently experiencing a neonatal journey. We exist to raise awareness of what is involved for families, support them during and after their time in a unit, plus highlight the wonderful people who care for the fragile and precious babies”

Additional support:

• The fifth year of ‘Lighting Up Purple’ for Neonatal November and World Prematurity Day – approx 20 landmarks or buildings throughout NZ are lighting up purple for prematurity during the week leading up to Sunday 17 November. E.g. Eden Park, Sky Tower plus many others.
• Morning teas at every NICU & SCBU for families and staff throughout NZ on 17 November – co-ordinated by the Trust and baked by volunteers.
• Across out social media we will be sharing of personal stories: Stories help to raise awareness of neonatal journeys and the stress and anxiety involved.
• Raising awareness and funds with our incubator donation boxes: you will see these at New World Pukekohe, New World (Thorndon) and other generous hosts throughout the month.
• Online fundraisers: Look out for our fundraising auctions of Wētā Workshop LOTR memorabilia and another fundraiser with the lovely folk at Essentially Tamara.
• Seeking your support: we don’t receive any Government funding and are entirely reliant on the generosity of individuals, companies and organisations in the form of donations, value-in-kind donations, grants, sponsorship and fundraising events to supplement operating costs and fund our services and initiatives

Those wanting to learn more can visit: www.neonataltrust.org.nz

Key details:

• ‘Neonatal November’ includes the internationally recognised ‘World Prematurity Day’ (Nov 17)
• There are 350+ incubators and cots in neonatal units across New Zealand
• On average 16 babies are born prematurely in New Zealand every day. 
  Babies are classified as premature if they are born before 37 weeks gestation. A normal pregnancy lasts 40 weeks.
• 40% of pregnancies involving multiples (twins, triplets, etc) arrive prematurely.
• Approximately 1 in 10 of babies born in New Zealand every year arrive early. 
  That's one every 90 minutes, and over 5,000 in total. Many arrive very early – some as early as 17 weeks early (23 weeks gestation).
• Some stays in a neonatal unit last just a few days, others take a very long time. For example, from the personal stories on The Neonatal Trust website www.neonataltrust.org.nz:

* Charlotte, born 23 weeks 3 days, weighing 650grams - 132 days before going home for the first time.

About The Neonatal Trust

The Neonatal Trust provides support for families with babies in a neonatal unit. 
This includes helping in practical ways by providing information, purchasing or contributing to the cost of equipment and also providing emotional and other support in order to ‘make a difficult start to life a little bit easier’. Examples include: https://goo.gl/O69Lpc

Distribution of neonatal care in New Zealand

Source: Neonatal Nurses College Aotearoa

NICU = Neonatal Intensive Care Unit 
SCBU = Special Care Baby Unit 
Level 3 Cot = Highest level of neonatal care – for the care of the sickest and earliest babies 
Level 2 Cot = General neonatal care, designed for babies 30 weeks+ in gestation

Please note that depending on the level of care a baby requires, they may not stay in the neonatal unit closest to home. For example, the Wellington NICU cared for 1,000+ babies last year, but half of those were from outside of Wellington.

The totals for babies through each unit are accumulative, thus a baby passing through both the Wellington NICU and Lower Hutt SCBU will be counted in both.

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