Pictured: The Ross family and Professor Jane Pillow
Tommy Ross’s birth in February 2023 could scarcely have been more dramatic.
Not only did Mum Elle Ross have to be airlifted from Rottnest Island via emergency chopper – complete with a ride to the nursing station on a luggage trolley and a golf cart after no wheelchair could be found – but Tommy’s arrival was far earlier than anyone wanted.
Born at just 25 weeks and five days’ gestation, Tommy was extremely premature – even more so than his older brother, Finn, who was also born early, at 31 weeks and six days’ gestation.
Pictured: Finn in the neonatal intensive care unit
For Elle and Ken Ross, the fact both their babies were early was not the surprise – Elle had been advised she was unlikely to carry a child beyond 32 weeks. But neither of them had been expecting Tommy to come even earlier than Finn, who had spent a month in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at King Edward Memorial Hospital in 2020.
For Tommy, that stay would be even longer – 100 days. He finally went home on Mother’s Day, 2023, much to the relief of Elle and Ken, who had been juggling care for Finn with daily trips into the NICU from their home in West Swan.
“Having to leave them there is just the worst bit,” Elle said. “Even driving through the tunnel now brings it back and makes me emotional. I still look around whenever I hear the beep of heart monitors or other hospital equipment on TV.”
The family is deeply grateful for the care they and their boys received during their two extended spells in the NICU. Eager to give back in some way, they immediately agreed when asked shortly after each admission if they’d like to take part in a research study being led by The Kids Research Institute Australia.
The CIRCA DIEM Study uses an inexpensive set of eye masks and ear plugs to teach babies born too soon how to tell the difference between night and day – a simple skill which could have lifelong implications for their health and development.
The study aims to kickstart premature babies’ circadian rhythms – internal body clocks which govern everything from sleep and body temperature to appetite, metabolism, mental health, immune system, and ability to think.
“A baby’s circadian rhythms typically develop late in pregnancy, shortly before birth,” study lead Professor Jane Pillow said. “Babies born too early miss out on these vital signals, with the noise and constant lighting in the hospital environment providing no day-night cues and making it even harder for them to develop these vital rhythms.
“What we’re trying to do with this study is to see if, with this very simple intervention very soon after birth, we can not only improve their short-term health – helping them to come home sooner – but also improve their lifelong health and wellbeing.”
Finn, now aged 4 years, was one of the earliest babies signed up to the study, which aims to recruit 954 babies across Australia, New Zealand and Canada by late next year. Babies are randomly assigned to either the intervention group – having eye masks and ear plugs fitted nightly and being exposed to more light during the day – or the control group, where they receive routine care. The Ross family have one child in each – Finn in the intervention group and Tommy, now 21 months old, in the control group.
“It felt like a gift to me to be involved,” Elle said. “The developmental checkups and assistance along the way have been eye-opening and just given me so much information.”
The research team recently signed up their 600th CIRCA DIEM baby, a little boy born at 28 weeks and five days at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide.
“We’re so grateful to all of the families who have agreed to take part in this research – it’s vitally important that we do studies like this so we can find ways to better support families and ensure babies born prematurely can thrive throughout life,” Professor Pillow said.
This weekend Tommy, Finn, Elle and Ken Ross – along with other families whose babies were born prematurely – will attend a community picnic at Holyrood Pavilion and Park in West Leederville to mark World Prematurity Day.
Hosted by Tiny Sparks WA in partnership with The Kids Research Institute Australia, the free community event will feature talks from a number of researchers from The Kids, including Professor Pillow and fellow CIRCA DIEM researcher Jane Choi, Shannon Simpson and Denby Evans from the Children’s Lung Health team, Dr Gayatri Jape from the King Edward Memorial Hospital NICU and The Kids, Dr Jonathan Davis from the Newborn Emergency Transport Service and The Kids, and Vincent Mancini from The Kids, who will discuss the Dad’s Project he is leading.
The World Prematurity Day Community Picnic is free but registration is encouraged. Register for the World Prematurity Day Community Picnic here.
- CIRCA DIEM started in 2019 at the Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS) Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) based at King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH), expanding to multiple NICUs across Australia and New Zealand in 2021 to become the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind in the world. The study involves researchers from The Kids, with King Edward Memorial Hospital and Fiona Stanley Hospital the main recruiting sites in WA. For more information on CIRCA DIEM see here.
- Professor Jane Pillow is a clinical academic neonatologist, Senior Principal Research Fellow and NHMRC Leadership Fellow at the UWA School of Human Sciences and at The Kids Research Institute Australia, where she is Research Theme Head, Early Environment, and Team Lead, Chronobiology.