Nurses at Glan Clwyd SCBU produce diary keepsakes for families of babies in their care

A neonatal nurse at Glan Clwyd Hospital has designed a diary to help families keep track of their babies' progress while staying on the unit.

Neonatal nurse Lisa Jones was inspired to develop the keepsakes after her baby was born prematurely and cared for at the hospital. The diaries will record important milestones in babies' development, such as their first bath, feed and smile, as well as progress made under the care of the unit's staff.

In designing the leaflet, Lisa drew on her own experiences after her son Jacob was born at 29 weeks' gestation. After she had been unable to find a baby diary to chronicle his progress, she set about developing her own.

The diaries feature two sections, one detailing treatments received and another with space for nurses to write updates on more general progress made by the babies.

"I've tried to put in what we need to know as a nurse and what I'd want to know as a parent, so there's a really good record of each child's time with us", Lisa says. "It goes through the first year of their lives so includes everything you would have in a normal diary – their first Christmas, first birthday and a tooth chart."

Mandy Cooke, Neonatal Services Manager, adds: "Entries might include 'I am breathing on a ventilator today' or 'I am having naso-gastric tube feeds today', which give parents an idea of the sort of treatment their babies are receiving. We hope that families with us can look back on the diaries in years to come and take great pride in the progress their babies have made."