Each year between 6,000 and 6,500 premature children are born in Bulgaria. In other words, one in ten Bulgarian babies is born prematurely, data of the World Health Organization shows. Unfortunately, an official register of premature children does not exist in Bulgaria. However, there is personal drama behind each statistical figure and a lot of pain, anguish, tears, as well as love, perseverance and happy smiles.

Premature babies can be born in each family. Many people think that premature babies are born in families with poor health status or families of certain ethnic groups, which is not true, Margarita Gabrovska, a speech therapist and expert in early intervention in Little Wonders Family Center with Our Premature Children Foundation, told Radio Bulgaria. Sometimes premature birth is not caused by a medical reason. It is often due to various infections, trauma, the age of the mother, or a specific placental attachment. Mothers often feel guilty when the baby is born prematurely, but premature birth can happen quite accidentally.

The foundation Our Premature Children is the first non-governmental organization dedicated to the needs of the Bulgarian premature children and their families. It provides plenty of support and useful information to the parents of these children and works for the improvement of the conditions in the neonatology hospitals. It also works with experts who help the development of premature children.

The foundation Our Premature Children was established in 2012 by three mothers of premature children, who realized they could not rely on anyone and had difficulties finding the necessary information. The Little Wonders Family Center was opened one year ago. It provides timely and accessible information and early support and opportunities for consultations with specialists in the field of early childhood development. Speech therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, music therapists and other experts work individually with these children in therapeutic groups. We are trying to provide all types of support to these families, so they can overcome the difficulties as quickly as possible.

One of the problems is linked with the deficit of high-tech medical equipment. Most neonatology departments in the big Bulgarian cities have good experts and modern equipment, but the medical equipment in the small Bulgarian towns has to be replaced with a new one. For the purpose, the foundation Our Premature Children organizes various charity initiatives to raise funds.

We launched several bazaars in the recent years. Volunteers knit and weave clothes and make toys for premature babies. For instance they make octopus toys whose tentacles resemble umbilical cord. We place them inside the baby incubator. Thus, babies can play with these tentacles and avoid injuries if they play with the tubes of the intravenous infusions. Volunteers also make small hats and bootees, as well as covers for the incubators, which protect babies from direct sunlight.

The fundraising initiatives are officially announced at the Night of Wonders event. This year the money will be used for equipment of family rooms at the neonatology departments, where parents can spend more time with their babies, as well as for the purchase of neonatology equipment.

Some of the money will be spent on a social programme is support of families who cannot afford the necessary therapy. We want to equip a special room for psychomotorics and provide additional training to the experts, because not too many of them were trained to work with premature babies and in the field of early childhood development and intervention.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov