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	Parents of premature babies are to receive more help caring for their newborns.</p>
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	Around 4,500 children are born before their due date in Ireland each year.</p>
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	The Better Together guide being launched today focuses on family-centred care and shows mothers and fathers how they can take a more active role during their baby&#39;s stay in hospital.</p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
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	Mandy Daly, director of advocacy and policymaking at the Irish Neonatal Health Alliance, described the difficulties these parents can endure.</p>
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	&quot;They will have experienced separation at birth, they may not have had to opportunity to bond with their child, they may not have seen their child,&quot; she said.</p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
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	&quot;It&#39;s a very traumatic experience being separated from, I suppose, what you&#39;ve been expecting and hoping for for a couple of months.</p>
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	&quot;Then there&#39;s the added stress of parents not knowing the prognosis is going to turn out, and they can&#39;t care for the child in a normal parenting fashion.&quot;</p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
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	(Published by the Irish Examiner on the 11th November 2016)</p>
<p>
	<a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/new-guide-focuses-on-family-centred-care-for-parents-of-premature-babies-763559.html">https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/new-guide-focuses-on-family-centred-care-for-parents-of-premature-babies-763559.html</a></p>
