Ngala lifesaver for weary mother
Little Charlie Thatcher's bright smile and happy giggle belies the fact that for the first nine months of his life, he largely refused to sleep.
When mum Sasha Kelly-Thatcher felt exhausted, lost and worried, she picked up the phone and called the Ngala helpline.
"Right from the start, I was on the phone," she said. "I would get tips, ideas . . . anything to help.
"It was just having someone to listen, to get you through to the next day, then the day after that."
Tomorrow, Ngala will launch its first public appeal for donations in more than 100 years. Demand for its parenting support services has grown faster than funding, fuelled by high rates of births and immigration.
Through the Give Anything for a Good Night's Sleep appeal, Ngala hopes to encourage people to raise money in the lead-up to a major fundraising day on November 21. Ngala chief executive Ashley Reid said about 80 per cent of the 20,000 calls to its helpline each year were from new parents struggling to get babies to sleep and the complexity of cases was increasing.
"People come from interstate or overseas with limited family support, or to work in the resources sector where one parent might work away," he said.
"When families don't have that support, it makes our work even more essential."
For Kristy Simeons support from Ngala was "life-changing" as she coped with daughter Chloe's severe reflux.
"Chloe had to be held 22 hours a day," she said. "I got so sick of being told I was just a first-time mum who didn't understand how hard it was going to be. The staff at Ngala were great at making you understand that it wasn't your fault."
Email goodnightssleep @ngala.com.au or call 9367 0940.
