A comprehensive guide for NICU parents, written by a NICU mum who couldn’t find one that was actually complete
When my daughter Amelia was born at 32 weeks and 6 days, I sat next to her incubator completely overwhelmed, trying to make sense of a world I never expected to be in. I wanted something that explained the language the doctors were using, helped me track what was happening day to day, and reminded me on the hardest days that I was still her mum.
I could not find it. So I wrote it myself.
The NICU Parent’s Survival Guide is now available as an ebook, with a paperback version coming soon once the cover is finished. It is the resource I needed during those weeks under three different hospitals, surrounded by some of the country’s top neonatal consultants, and still feeling like nobody had handed me the full picture. This was built from the inside, by someone who has actually sat in that chair.
What You Will Find Inside
This guide is comprehensive because the situation it covers deserves nothing less. Here is what’s included.
A NICU Glossary You Can Actually Understand
Neonatal intensive care comes with its own language, and nobody should have to nod along pretending they followed what a consultant just said. This section translates the terms you will hear every day into plain English, so you can ask better questions and actually understand the answers.
A Full Daily Planner
A place to track your baby’s medical updates, the questions you want to ask the team, your involvement in their care, the practical things still waiting for you outside the hospital, and a small daily check-in with yourself, because that matters too.
A Guided Feelings Section
Ten writing prompts for the moments when a blank page feels impossible. Whether you are numb, frightened, carrying guilt you cannot explain, or simply too tired to know what you are feeling, these prompts meet you exactly where you are.
100 Affirmations Across Ten Categories
From letting go of guilt to holding onto hope. Some days you need someone to hand you the words, because you cannot find your own.
Milk Expression Logs and Pumping Guidance
Five pages of expression logs with feeding tips, plus the guidance on how your pumping needs to change once your milk comes in, information that most parents told me they were never actually given.
A Full Year of Planning
Ten daily planner pages and pumping schedules covering birth through to twelve months, so you have somewhere to track the whole journey, not just the hospital stay.
A UK Charity and Support Directory
A list of organisations that exist specifically for families like yours, because you should not have to go looking for support while you are also trying to hold everything else together.
Why I Made This
Every resource I found while Amelia was in NICU was either incomplete, scattered across ten different websites, or written by someone who had never actually lived through it. None of that is a criticism of the people who made them. It is just the reason I felt the gap so clearly, and the reason I decided to fill it properly rather than settle for almost.
You are your baby’s parent. Not a visitor. Not a bystander. And you are not alone.
Get the Guide
The NICU Parent’s Survival Guide is available now on Amazon as an ebook, with paperback on the way. If you are currently sitting next to an incubator, or you know someone who is, you can get your copy here.
If this guide reaches even one parent in the chair I used to sit in, it has done its job. If you have read it, I would love it if you left a review. It helps other NICU families find it when they need it most, and it helps me keep writing the resources this community deserves.
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References
Johnstone, L. (2026) NICU Parent’s Survival Guide. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.
Personal experience and reflections drawn from the author’s own NICU journey with her daughter, Amelia.
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