KING'Sbabycare
www.kc21.net

KING'Sbabycare is a service offered by The King ­s Church to parents with a child in the Special Care Baby Unit at Frimley Park Hospital

When a mother gives birth to a sick, disabled or very premature baby, it is an extremely stressful time for the whole family. Many hours are spent at the hospital, and emotional and physical exhaustion can sap the parents strength.

As a result, ordinary household tasks can become an enormous burden, and an additional source of stress as the family returns daily to mounds of ironing, unhoovered carpets and an empty larder. And once the baby is brought home, after perhaps many weeks in hospital, it may have special needs and require more hours of care than the average baby. 

KING'Sbabycare exists to support parents in this situation by doing housework, ironing, shopping, cooking, etc., and also looking after other children in the family while parents visit their new baby in the Unit. In some cases it may be possible to arrange transport for parents to visit the Unit.

We are able to go on supporting a family for up to three months after they take their baby home, or up to six months if the baby has special needs requiring more care than a healthy baby.

Police checks are carried out for all our volunteers, and those who are offering babysitting have been given Social Services approved child protection training.

Roz Bunney set up and administers the scheme, born out of her own experiences: "Having had two babies of my own in Frimley Park's SCBU, I want to do all we can to make life easier for these parents." She is trained and experienced in this work and along with administering the scheme, she liaises with hospital staff and health visitors, and above all, gets alongside parents to give them moral and emotional support and a trained listening ear.

Access to this service is by telephoning the King's Centre on Aldershot 333767 and asking for KING'Sbabycare.