L’il Aussie Prems was created in March 2007 by a passionate mum of a premature baby, Julia Toivonen. 

Julia’s son, Ronan was born at 27 weeks gestation and spent over 3 months in hospital. After the rollercoaster ride of NICU life and along with 12 years of online experience Julia created the site from scratch. The site offers a premature baby forum for support, articles, birth stories, galleries, premmie of the moment, live chats, birth announcements, blogs, monthly newsletters and much more. Since the site was created it now reaches many families of premature and SCN babies. The forum has reached over 660 members from Australia and world wide. Many of the members have created playgroups and friendships not only within their state but also online.

In January 2008 Julia won the “local hero” award in her local council for the work that she has done to help premmie baby families. Julia is heavily involved not only with her website but is also on the committee for the National Premmie Foundation and also Lifes Little Treasures, both are charities that work at providing support for families throughout Australia.

L’il Aussie Prems is forever evolving and bringing more support for families. Until recently Julia was doing majority of the work on the website herself with updates and adding new content onto the website but with recently giving birth to her 2^nd child she now has wonderful parents on board to help with the workload. Julia has done an amazing job and her passion for helping families of premature babies shines through her amazing website.   

If you wish to speak and meet with other families of premature babies I would recommend that you join the premature baby forum and whilst you are there take a look through the website. You will be amazed at how much support is available to you.

 There are some amazing support online for parents, families and friends of premature babies, and we have had the pleasure of giving you a little insight into Julia and L’il Aussie Prems.  Please support her and her site as she is a great support to La Toriana and our premmie baby catagory showcasing stylish and affordable premmie baby clothing and products.

Warmly  Elizabeth xx

Solving the puzzle of Premature Birth.  Premature Birth Awareness Week starts today.

Having a premature baby can be a lonely and frightening experience. In our communities there may be very few people who understand the specific problems that parents of babies born very early face.

Sometimes our babies are transferred to hospitals far from home and this can make us feel even more alienated and lost.

Through Austprem, families who have experienced the complex challenges of parenting a premature infant reach out to other families facing this journey, and offer friendship, information and support.

2008 marks the second year of National Premature Birth Awareness Week and we hope that it will be as successful as the first.

As a part of increasing knowledge about premature birth, Austprem Inc. will be offering information to ALL pregnant women in the hope of decreasing the rising numbers of premature births in Australia with Austprem Inc.’s new brochure “Pregnant? It’s probably nothing but it might be something.

 The brochure will be launched during National Premature Birth Awareness Week. and contains a summary of the indications that may lead to premature birth and encourages women to check with their doctor, hospital or health care provider if they are at all concerned.

 Premature Birth Awareness Week starts today. Visit www.bornearly.org.au for full details.

Useful Premmie Information Links

      Austprem

Featherweight Club – Mercy Hospital for Women VIC
Lifes Little Treasures – VIC
Loddon Mallee Kids – Greater Bendigo Area VIC

Little Wonders – John Hunter Hospital NSW
Central Coast Premmie and Sick Newborn Support (CCPSNS) – Central Coast NSW
Miracle Babies – Liverpool Hospital NSW
NNICUPS – Nepean Hospital NSW

PIPA – QLD

L’il Aussie Prems

National Premmie Foundation

Moment by Moment

 Having had 3 premmie babies myself, I understand only too well the rollercoaster journey many families go through.  I am very passionate about supporting groups that support premmie babies and hope you are too.  Please support them by going to their websites and  gain lots of information. 

At La Toriana, we have a specialised catagory for premmie baby and are adding new premmie clothing and products all the time.  Our aim is to be a supportive place where people can shop for their premmie baby in a secure, supportive and understanding environment.

The above groups are amazing in their wealth of knowledge and support and we encourage you all to support those who support the families of premmie babies.  La Toriana in the near future will bring more and more information on the support of premmie babies, an array of new ranges of premature baby clothing and tips an advice along the way.  We are passionate about Premmie babies, their families and helping the community.

warmly

Elizabeth xx

(some of the products and premmie baby clothing collections found at (La Toriana)

We would love to hear your journeys and thoughts, travels and pics of your journey.  We will be posting some stories here on our blog in the coming weeks and months with events around Premature babies, so if you would like to join in… please email  info@latoriana.com.au

warmly

Elizabeth xx

 La Toriana launches Prem baby catagory for National Premmie Day

La Toriana has been passionate about supporting Premature Babies. 

July 25th marks 2008 National Premmie Day.

Elizabeth, founder of La Toriana  www.LaToriana.com.au ,  who has had 3 prem babies, is an keen supporter of National Premmie Foundation,  www.prembaby.org.au and also her local group, Loddon Mallee Kids   www.loddonmalleekids.org.au

It is a hard road for many families experiencing the birth of a prem baby, and a rollercoaster ride for sometime afterwards.  There are some amazing supports out there these days like the above groups and websites such as www.momentbymoment.com.au , that are all about helping families and friends who are touched by the birth of a premature baby.

La Toriana have released this week their premmie section.  It is hard finding prem baby clothes and  accessories.  La Toriana would love you to check out their prem baby clothing lines and some new releases coming very soon in organic premature baby clothing.

Having a baby is an amazing, joyous occasion.  

Friends, family, neighbours and acquaintances all gather around sending congratulatory cards, flowers, gifts. They all can’t wait to visit the new baby, have a hold and pat dad on the back, go out for that celebratory drink and give the mum a warm hug and flowers. Everyone is happy and knows how to react.

Is it the same when a baby is born premature? No, not always.

It’s a very frightening time for the parents whose baby comes too early or is sick. The joy soon turns to fear and panic and so sets in a rollercoaster ride. Every single minute is precious. It’s an extremely worrying time.  It’s a very isolating time for the parents. There is a fear they may loose their baby, may have long term health issues or concerns of being able to cope. Of guilt, anger and fear.

Friends and family are often feeling at a loss too.
Many will not send a congratulatory card or present, just in case the baby passes away and it could upset the parents. Many will *wait* and see how things go before they send a card. Sometimes this could be a couple months later.

Tips for supporting a friend/family with a prem/sick baby

• Do send a card, present soon after if that’s what you had intended on doing, to congratulate the arrival of their much loved baby
• Do knowledge it’s a stressful time
• Offer positive feedback on the baby, their name, pics etc
• Give them a journal to write their journey at this time, a book of comfort or similar gift
• Do keep in touch, via a quick call, text, email or letter during their time in hospital to let them know you are thinking of them, even though they possible wont be up to returning calls etc for a while
• Offers of help at home, with other kids, animals, work, where you can during this time.
• Drop over frozen meals for the dad/family or once they get home from hospital
• Give mum a special notebook so she can diarise her journey through this time.
• Offer to do washing, shopping etc so its one less thing mum or dad needs to think about
• Offer to pass on info to other friends/family for them
• Do be there to listen and offer comfort
• Please don’t offer parenting advise, your experiences, pry or pass judgement (its hard enough for the parents… no matter how well meaning you are)
• Please don’t be self cantered and think of YOUR feelings on the situation,

Today there is so much more support available locally and nationally. As a parent, or friend of someone who has had a prem baby, there is a lot of support.

Read the full article here and list of great supports available … all on mumzone here 

mumzone has an amazing amount of support and information for all mums.

La Toriana is giving the National Premmie Foundation 10% of all sales from July 15th to July 25th.  We are also giving you another 10% off too, type NPF as the code at checkout to automatically receive this.