Supporting Parents
Support and Advice for Families, parents and carers
Having a baby in the neonatal unit can be the worst and most frightening time for any family and the stay can be a lengthy one. We want to improve facilities for our families and provide information and other practical help. We are always willing to listen to ways that we can best provide this support.
Parent Welcome Packs
We appreciate that the neonatal unit can be daunting for parents with the noise of machines, alarms and babies crying. You may also feel that you are being watched by the nurses who are helping you to care for your sick baby.
To help parents adapt to this new and often unexpected environment we helped facilitate a welcome pack produced by the neonatal staff. It contains a host of useful information on how to help care for your baby when in the unit as well as practical items such as a water bottle to help keep you hydrated, car parking voucher & cool bag for transporting breast milk from home.
Sibling Bags
To help siblings we've put together a special bag for them featuring:
Noah's Star (sibling support activity booklet)
Colouring crayons
Notepad
Colouring activity booklet
SSCB Winging It! book
Seasonal Cards
Events such as Mother’s day, Father’s day and Christmas are often taken for granted but when you are a parent with a baby in the unit, these dates can be particularly difficult. To help brighten up these days we provide the nurses with material to make cards for the babies to give to their parents.
Hand & Feet Memories
We help parents create lasting memories with their baby whilst in the unit by supplying arts and craft material so that parents can create pictures and imprints of their new baby’s hand and footprints.
A Helping Hand booklet
We hoped that Catherine Rayner's (award winning Edinburgh author & illustrator) illustrations would create a ‘storybook’ feel, and her range of illustrations themed around new arrivals does this beautifully.
She kindly supported us in the creation of the booklet, also donating a series of prints to the unit.
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Download booklet: A Helping Hand
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Countless parents who have spent time in the Simpson Neonatal Unit contacted us and shared their experiences and tips.
While we couldn’t feature all of their contributions, we would like to thank each and every person who took the time to send us comments.
Learn more about The Benefits of Reading to NICU Babies
Certificates
In addition to ‘A Helping Hand’, Catherine has kindly supported us in the creation of mementos for parents leaving the hospital.
While the majority of babies leave the hospital well, there are some babies who sadly pass away. We wanted all parents, regardless of their experience, to have an opportunity to mark the end of their neonatal journey. So we have designed certificates that will be completed by nursing staff.
If you have been in the unit prior to 2021, you may wish to download one of these to complete at home.
Download our Discharge Certificates:
Discharge Certificate Elephant
Download our Certificate of Life: