Neonatal nurses welcome more paid leave for parents of premature babies

The Neonatal Nurses College, Aotearoa welcomes the news that parents of premature babies will now be entitled to more parental leave. The extra weeks will apply from birth until the 37 week “due date”. After that the usual 18 weeks of paid parental leave will begin.

Chair of the College, Annie Marshall says, “This is good news for the parents of premature babies. The birth of a premature baby is stressful for so many reasons. Eliminating one of those pressures will have a big effect on the families/whānau we work with every day.”

“Often the new baby is unwell and sometimes the mother is too. Often premature babies are transferred to large hospitals far from the families’ homes.”

“We have seen situations where new mums of premature babies have had to go to back to work while their baby is still in the intensive care unit. Unexpectedly having no income due to an early birth is a terrible strain.”

“This extra paid parental leave will give affected families many more options, and the chance for mothers and babies to breastfeed and bond.” Annie Marshall says.

ENDS

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