Nurturing Hope: How Miracle Babies Foundation Supports Families After Premature or Sick Births
As part of our 2025 Grants Program, we are proud to be walking alongside Miracle Babies Foundation - an organisation dedicated to supporting premature and sick newborns, their families, and the hospitals that care for them. This year, Miracle Babies are proudly celebrating 20 years of their life-changing work.
Have a read below about why they began, the transformative work they are undertaking, and how you can get involved.
In 2005, in Liverpool Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), a group of mothers gathered — each one profoundly changed by their own experience of giving birth to a premature or critically ill baby. While their newborns received expert medical care from NICU nurses and social workers, these mothers identified something essential that was missing: emotional support for families like theirs.
The NICU experience, while life-saving, can also be isolating and overwhelming, with parents often feeling lost in a medical world they never expected to enter. In those moments, nothing compares to the support of someone who truly understands.
Miracle Babies began as a peer-led initiative — mothers supporting other mothers. Now, their work has expanded to support the entire family unit, including fathers, siblings and the extended family. Their work is deeply rooted in lived experience, and built on the idea that those who have walked the path before can offer comfort and guidance.
Each year in Australia:
Around 48,000 babies require admission to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or Special Care Nursery;
27,000 of these babies are born prematurely;
Tragically, up to 1,000 families lose their babies each year.
Behind each of these numbers is a family grappling with fear, grief, uncertainty, and hope. Miracle Babies exists to improve, support, and enhance all lives impacted by a premature or sick birth. More than a support service, they are a movement for families, by families — one that works hand-in-hand with health professionals to improve outcomes and empower parents. They offer wrap around support, from a threatened pregnancy, to in-hospital, after discharge and beyond. They are with families for the entirety of their journey - not just in the hospital.
From their beginnings in south-west Sydney, Miracle Babies has grown into a national organisation - today, supporting thousands of families across the country — including in Lismore and Tweed Hospitals, where they’ve been providing NICU Survival Packs and Milk Express Packs for many years.
Thanks to generous community support and recent funding, 30 packs have already been distributed this year to Lismore Hospital's Special Care Nursery, offering vital comfort and information to families navigating this unexpected journey. These packs include resources tailored to the needs of NICU families, covering everything from admission and discharge to bereavement and the transition home.
Through the funding provided by Ingrained Foundation, Miracle Babies will continue to deliver essential resource packs to families of sick and premature babies at Lismore Base Hospital and Tweed Hospital.
“We were so overwhelmed, but the support and resources from Miracle Babies made us feel less alone. It gave us the strength to keep going.”
— Laura, Reggie’s Mum
How You Can Help
Miracle Babies is powered by the generosity of volunteers and supporters. Below are some different ways you can become involved with Miracle Babies:
1. In-Hospital Support
If you’ve experienced the NICU journey yourself and want to support other families, you can become a volunteer in-hospital support companion.
2. Volunteer Behind the Scenes
From packing resource kits to helping with events and administration, every bit of help counts. No NICU experience required.
3. Knit or Sew for a Cause
Craft tiny clothes, blankets, and keepsakes that bring comfort to families.
4. Join Community Events
Participate in fundraising campaigns like Together in Teal, helping expand their reach and deepen their impact.
Or reach out to their Volunteer Coordinator, Nellie Lewis, to chat about how you can help:
[email protected]
If you are in need of support, you can contact Miracle Babies Foundation on their 24 hour support line: 1300 773 664