Bliss Family Handbook for parents of premature and sick babies

Journal of Neonatal Nursing (2012) 18, 84e85

www.elsevier.com/jneo

NEWSPOINT

Bliss Family Handbook for parents of prematureand sick babies

Kellie Stewart *

Bliss, 9 Holyrood Street, London SE1 2EL,United Kingdom

Available online 1 April 2012

Special care baby charity Bliss provides supportand advice to families of premature and sick babiesthroughout the UK at what is an extremely difficultand stressful time. With one in nine babies borneach year in the UK needing specialist hospital carethere are many parents who need Bliss’ support.

Bliss works with neonatal units across the UK toensure that parents receive the information theyneed at this time and we distribute our free BlissFamily Handbook to help answer some of theirquestions and give them reassurance that they’re notalone.

The handbook is not just for mum’s but for thewhole family as each member plays an importantrole in ensuring the very best care is given for themost vulnerable members of the family. It containssections such as getting your bearings (on theneonatal unit), about neonatal care, your baby’smedical care, home time and bereavement. Thereis information in these sections and others aboutsupport during this emotional time, family-centredcare, your finances, pain relief and much, muchmore. Each section has its own colour coded indextab to make all this information easy to find. And,it comes in an A5 size booklet which is easy tocarry around and refer to whenever needed.

Carmel Bartley, Bliss Family Support Managersaid, “Bliss is here to make sure families are sup-ported at what is a very emotional and stressfultime in their lives. The Family Handbook is just oneway that we do this. It is available for any parents ofpreterm or sick babies admitted to neonatal carefrom the unit, or through Bliss. It is also available in

several other languages including Polish and Frenchand available to download from our website.”

Bliss provides a range of support publications forfamilies of premature and sick babies, allare available to download from our website atwww.bliss.org.uk or by calling our freephonefamily support helpline on 0500 618 140.

E-mail: kellies@bliss.org.uk

* Tel.: þ44 (0) 20 7378 5741.