In this section you can find out about the experiences of parents who have a baby who is diagnosed with a problem that needs surgery, by seeing and hearing people share their personal stories on film.

Sometimes a baby is born with a condition that means he or she will need an operation in early life. These conditions represent a real spectrum, from the relatively minor to very major. Most conditions are rare, so hospitals and surgeons may only see children with them infrequently. Parents can often feel very alone.

We travelled around the country and talked to 44 parents about issues such as diagnosis, birth planning, the surgery itself, and life back at home.

We hope you find the information helpful.

Because all of the people who took part in our study were people who had experience of neonatal surgery, we did not include people who chose to terminate a pregnancy. But you can read more about people who did make this choice on our website Ending a pregnancy for fetal abnormality.

You may also be interested in our other websites about antenatal screening and pregnancy.

This section is based on research by The University of Oxford.