Call for communities to support premature babies and their moms

Families and communities need to support the parents of premature babies, says Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo.

“As a government alone, we cannot do everything. Part of this awareness is about how we create support,” she said at the start of the Preemie Babies’ Festival, at Tygerberg Hospital, on Saturday.

The event, which included a 5km fun walk, live music and various food stalls, is being held by the Tygerberg Hospital Children’s Trust to raise money in support of premature babies and their mothers. It runs until Friday.

World Prematurity Day is on Thursday November 17. The World Health Organization lists premature-birth complications as the leading cause of death among children under 5.

There are more than 100 premature babies currently at Tygerberg Hospital, and the Tygerberg Hospital Children’s Trust hopes to raise a total of R15 million for the hospital’s neonatal ICU and programmes supporting premature babies, according to Jason Falken, the trust’s CEO.

“This is probably the most important unit because of the learning happening there and the association with Stellenbosch University.”

Lee-Angels Steer, 24, of Bellville South, gave birth to four-year old Grayson in her 26th week of pregnancy. She is now six months pregnant with her second baby and said there were no obvious signs to suggest someone would give birth to a premature baby.

She said she had stayed in hospital for a month after Grayson’s birth and while he had weighed just 1kg at birth, since then he had grown faster than other babies.

Juan Peterson, 23, from Kraaifontein, was a premature baby and said that while he had been sickly as an infant he had gone on to participate in rugby and athletics at school.

“I used to have asthma and difficulty breathing, and I would be scared a lot. I would cling to my mother and she would comfort me. They called me a kangaroo baby.

“They said my lungs were under-developed or something like that. They took me to my grandfather who would wrap me in his T-shirt and put me on his chest and that would help.”

Mr Peterson, who is now a clerk at the Tygerberg campus of Stellenbosch University’s faculty of medicine and health sciences, encouraged other former preemies to not box themselves.

“They must not let other people tell them what you can and cannot do. Always try before you allow someone to tell you that.”

A comedy show, Reboot Your Laughter, will be held at the Artscape Theatre, on Wednesday November 16, at 6pm, in aid of the trust.