Mum calls for premature birth after-care

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.

Saoirse, who spent five weeks in intensive care, is now a thriving 4-year-old and has two siblings, also born prematurely but doing well — Aoife, 3, and Donnacha, 5 months.

Melanie, of Ballincollig, Co Cork, was treated for pre-eclampsia during each of her pregnancies at Cork University Hospital.