Each year over 4,500 Irish babies and 1 in 10 babies globally are born prematurely.

They’re calling it the Christmas-Tree Formation, but it’s no longer typical of any moves gracing football stadiums.

He was “skin and bone” when he arrived but it was “just a matter of fattening him up”, says Gráinne Foley, whose second son John clocked in at 2lbs 4oz — 12 weeks shy of his due date.

Melanie Walsh never planned on taking a crash course in learning to care for pre-term infants — until her little girl Saoirse was born at 29 weeks, weighing less than 2lb.

A long-awaited, 24-hour, national neonatal transport service is expected to be launched next week.