called HIE (Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy).
Leah's Polar Hugs addresses the needs of new members of the HIE community in two ways: they broaden and improve access to the right medical equipment by helping hospital NICUs purchase the cooling equipment needed to treat babies born with HIE and they help support families coping with an HIE birth through our Hugs & Hope care packages. There are two ways that cooling treatment can be administered: using a cooling cap for selective brain cooling ("head cooling") or using a cooling blanket ("whole-body cooling") - the newborn is placed on a cooling blanket. The cooling blanket circulates cold fluid to reduce the temperature of the newborn's entire body. The most important part of the package provided by Leah's Polar Hugs is the swaddle because it is one of the earliest opportunities to provide physical comfort to the baby as well as the parent being allowed to hold them. At this point the baby has been warmed up and had an MRI scan, but there is still much that is unknown about the child’s future, so feelings of warmth, hope, and love are at their highest and also most fragile.