150 Strangers To Volunteer For Perth Quintuplet Parents

The babies and I are both doing very well, thank you for all your well wishes and support.

Tiffany weight 1170g
Penelope weight 1160g
Beatrix weight 1210g
Allie weight 1200g
Keith weight 1269g

Up to 150 volunteers will rotate through a support roster to help new parents of eight children with an estimated 50 nappy changes and 40 bottle feeds each day.

Volunteer support program coordinator Krista Bingham of Perth and Districts Multiple Births Association (PDMBA), said in a first for the association, it would trial a community support program centred around the Tucci family.

“We’re trying to organise a roster, so we’re hoping to cover pretty much the whole day to be able to get some extra help in there for the parents. The volunteers will be doing stuff like helping to feed babies, changing nappies, helping with washing bottles and preparing feeds and changing linen and washing baby clothes and all those sort of tasks,” she said.

“They’ll also help with cuddling the babies which is really important because multiple birth babies need cuddles just as much as single babies do.”

“We have such a range of people, we’ve got a couple of ladies that had triplet themselves that are grown up now, lots of families with twins, lots of grandparents, lots of professionals as well – midwives, nurses, teachers,” she said.

“The thing they all have in common is they all love babies and they all want to help.”

Ms Bingham went on to say that the 150 volunteers had already been screened and were attending a training workshop ahead the babies’ being brought home from King Edward Memorial Hospital.

If the program works out to be successful, she hopes it may be extended to other multiple birth parents who need extra support.

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