What is Baby Lifeline, the new chosen charity of Sarah Moore Online?

It’s done. The wonderful people of the Twitter sphere have spoken and my new chosen charity as been selected. And now all that remains to do is raise the money (I know, I make it sound so simple). But what is Baby Lifeline and what will it do with the money that’s raised through your purchases of For the Love of Lentil?

Baby Lifeline (registered charity 1006457) was set up in 1979 by Judy Ledger, a nurse who lost three premature babies and wanted to do something to help with her grief and support the professionals who had supported her. From initially fundraising to support one Coventry hospital, the charity that grew out of Judy’s early efforts now supports maternity units across the UK and, in the face of NHS spending cuts, provides all types of equipment from small things like digital weighing scales for babies to more major items of kit such as incubators and scanners.

The charity also provides specialist training for relevant health professionals to ensure best practice, responding to key national findings.

And it supports specific, short-term, high-impact research.

Baby Lifeline’s Monitoring for Mums appeal is raising money to provide all hospitals with what they need to ensure the best possible care for every mum and baby. Resources funded so far range from monitoring equipment to complimentary training. And it is here that the money raised through my website and book sales will go – to help ensure as many parents as possible can avoid the crushing heartache of losing a child, and to support as many children as possible to thrive and make their mark on the world through their lives, not simply through a legacy that stands in their place and in their memory.

Children are precious and deserve to be nurtured and cherished. Each has potential to make a positive difference in the world and we have the potential to do something to maximise the chances of them fulfilling that potential.

There’s something precious and irreplicable about children – their innocence, they’re willingness to accept things adults often naturally challenge or resist. Jesus himself spoke of the importance of children when he said, recorded in Mark 10:14, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” And Psalm 127:3 says, “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.”

So I look forward to handing over money to BabyLifeline in October, to help enable more mothers to enjoy, rather than mourn, the rewards that are the fruit of their wombs, and to enable us all to learn from these precious tiny people.

You can help increase the amount I hand over by buying your copy of For the Love of Lentil from this website by October 15.

Sarah Moore is the author of For the Love of Lentil, A journey of longing, loss and abundant grace, which tells the story of her experience of pregnancy and miscarriage. Copies of the book are available here.