The First Minutes and the Long Days After: Supporting NICU families

When birth leads to the NICU, doulas can play a vital role in supporting families. Lived-experience expert Melinda Cruz shares practical, evidence-based strategies - from threatened pregnancy and delivery to the NICU - including delayed cord clamping, Family Integrated Care, pain management, self-care and how family voices can shape clinical practice worldwide.

Melinda Cruz

Melinda Cruz is mum to 3 boys born premature. She has been a lived-experience expert for 20 years and a consumer partner in neonatal research for more than 13 years, with a focus on improving outcomes for families of premature and sick babies.
She played a pivotal role in the Australian Placental Transfusion Study (APTS), which was recognised as Trial of the Year for its ground-breaking findings. Building on the success of APTS, Melinda was asked to be the Central Parent-Partner for the wamM (Wait a Minute or More) trial
Bringing the parent and lived-experience perspective to the research process, Melinda helping to design, guide, and translate findings into real-world practice, and ensuring that the voices of families are central to neonatal care innovations.
Through her work, she continues to champion research that bridges the gap between evidence and practice, demonstrating the powerful impact of involving lived experience in clinical trials to improve outcomes for babies and their families worldwide.
She is the Founder of Miracle Babies Foundation, successfully leading the organisation for 17 years after starting it in 2005, following the premature births of her babies.
Melinda continues to make an impact as a Senior Research Officer at the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Clinical Trials Centre, at the University of Sydney, with key roles with the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand's (PSANZ) Lived Experience Advisory Network, Australian and New Zealand Neonatal Network (ANZNN) and the Australian Life Blood Milk Bank Advisory Board.
She is co-author of 27 peer-reviewed publications, contributed to THRIVE Global and is co-host of the NICU Lived podcast, empowering families in research, advocacy, and improved clinical practices. She holds leading roles on a number of trials - PLATIPUS Lived Experience Committee Chair, wamM Central Parent-Partner, SurPre Working Group Co-Chair and APTvsCT consumer lead.
Melinda is working to continue her impact through a new initiative, BarluMe, a brand focused on women's health to support healthier pregnancies and better baby outcomes

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