Shantelle’s son Bowie spent eight months in the hospital after he was born early at 24 weeks, weighing just 623g.

Shantelle said she couldn’t have coped without the “angels” in the NICU ward.

“I like to call NICU nurses the Navy SEALs of nursing, they wear so many hats,” she explained.

But nearly 4000km away in Sydney, there is a “crisis” in NICU wards across the city.

NICU staff in the NICU at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital went on strike last month and nurses at Nepean Hospital held a rally last week over concerns about patient safety and staffing levels.

“Sometimes they’re as sick as our adult patients in intensive care, but they’re not being afforded the same level of safe staffing as their adult counterparts,” NSWNMA Nepean Hospital Branch Secretary Alicia Rodgers said.

A lack of adequate staffing can be dangerous for mums and babies, she warned.

“There’s a huge amount of nurse burnout, it [can cause] an increased risk of infection,” Pussell said.

“We know these situations can cause increased risk of mortality and morbidity.

“There’s so much research out there about it and we need to really adequately support the staff to be able to support the families and the babies.”

Pussell said NICU nurses are there to guide new mums like Shantelle through what can be a traumatic time.

And after welcoming her own twins at 25 weeks, Pussell said she needed NICU staff to hold her hand through a tough period too.

“It’s scary for parents and babies, you never expect to go into a neonatal unit and have a premature or critically ill baby,” she said.

“That extra time, care, support and compassion that the nurses can give to the parents at that really critical point makes a huge difference in their long-term mental health.”

Shantelle said her son’s time in hospital was made easier thanks to nurses who could be “present”.

She believes having enough staff to concentrate on patient families is a vital part of NICU care.

“Nurses have this magical ability to celebrate every win,” she said. “Things like that really make a difference.

“They are so gentle and have so much care… that’s something that I carried with me on days that I found it really hard to leave and go home”

NICU nurses at Nepean and Westmead hospitals have asked for the NSW government to take action and provide more funding to address the staff shortage.

“When there is increased demand, additional cots and other resources are made available, and staffing is increased to care for these babies,” the spokesperson said

“Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District continues to grow its nursing workforce, including hiring 178 nurse graduates and increasing the Nepean Emergency Department nursing staff by the equivalent of 13 new fulltime nurses to implement Safe Staffing Levels as the NSW Government rolls out the major staffing reform.”