Aviva Community Fund has provided £1,471 of match funding
Wellbeing Gift Packs for parents in neonatal units
Winchester, England, United Kingdom
Aim
The water bottle and coffee cups will help parents stay hydrated as their babies are in hospital. These will support parents self care.
The Ickle Pickles charity started an initiative 18 months ago, to provide an Ickle Pickles gift box with a reusable water bottle and coffee/tea cup to mothers with a baby on the neonatal units. Our long term aim is to give these gift boxes to every parent in all the NHS hospitals we support.
The neonatal unit is a very warm environment, where it is important to be well hydrated, especially when expressing milk. As their babies are sick and parents are anxious, they often don’t want to leave them to get a drink or something to eat. Having the water bottles or cups by their side ensure they stay hydrated. This is especially important for parents general well being and self care.
During the pandemic, most units have only allowed one parent to visit whilst caring for their baby. This has been an extremely stressful time for all new parents but especially those whose babies are fragile and in intensive care nurseries.
One of the few benefits of being in neonatal care is developing the friendship and support of other parents around. But the restrictions in hospitals have meant that this has not been possible. This has added to their stress on their mental wellbeing, loneliness and isolation.
We are giving out these wellbeing gift packs to parents to let them know we are thinking of them and want them to stay hydrated and consider self care whilst their babies are in hospital.
The water bottles and coffee/tea cups also helps to reduce plastic waste in hospitals and can be used at home once the baby is discharged.
As fundraising events have either been cancelled or postponed in the last 12 months, funding for these wellbeing gift boxes has been limited.
We trialled these gift boxes initially and they have had a positive feedback from parents and clinical teams, all keen to support mother’s wellbeing. After all, a happy parent means a happy baby.
For Father’s Day this year, we also gifted these to all father with babies in the neonatal unit.
We have donated and purchased water bottles for other neonatal units and services in the past aS we wanted to highlight the importance of this type of gift for parents.
This project successfully funded on 21st September 2021