Byron Bay folk singer Alana Wilkinson pens song for miracle baby Rafferty after very early arrival

For parents of sick babies, Neonatal Critical Care can be a place of fear and heartbreak. For singer Alana Wilkinson it’s where she first held her miracle baby, married, and made music about her son’s fight to survive.

While the NCCU can be a scary and heartbreaking place for many parents, for Alana Wilkinson, it’s where some of the best memories were made.

The Neonatal Critical Care Unit (NCCU) at Mater Mothers’ Hospital in South Brisbane was where she held her tiny miracle baby Rafferty for the first time, where she married her husband Angus, and where she drew inspiration for a song about her son’s fight for survival.

The folk singer was rushed from her home in Byron Bay to Mater Mothers’ at the height of the pandemic lockdowns in 2021, after delivering her baby boy Rafferty four months prematurely.

So for almost three months, Ms Wilkinson sat singing and playing her ukulele, eventually writing a song called ‘Dream Big’ for Rafferty, and for other families struggling with life in the NCCU.

“Writing this song connected me right back in with my son,” she said.

Alana and Angus with their little boy Rafferty.

“While singing it to him in the NCCU I was able to step out of fear and focus all my love and energy on us and the life we had waiting ahead.

“I would imagine him growing older, wishing on birthday cakes, climbing trees, painting pictures, learning to drive, and all of this kept me in alignment with him.

Tiny Rafferty weighed just 704 grams when he was born. Picture: supplied.

One of the lines in the song is: ‘We have a magic string that ties us, no matter how far we find ourselves away, I’d still feel you in outer space’.

“This line refers to the primal mama-baby communication and the physical ache I felt when I wasn’t with him,” Ms Wilkinson said.

Since releasing the song this year Ms Wilkinson has received an overwhelming response from mums with sick and premature babies in neonatal units across the country who have been touched by the song.

“I’ve received emails and messages from families moving through their neonatal journey who have found comfort in listening to this song, and that to me is why it was so important to release it,” Ms Wilkinson said.

Alana and Angus wed at Mater Mothers' Hospital alongside baby Rafferty. Picture: supplied

“When I filmed this song while Rafferty was in hospital, I shared it on social media, and it circulated throughout neonatal units around Australia where mums were playing it for their babies.”

Rafferty’s early arrival into the world also prompted his doting parents to tie the knot by his hospital bedside when he was three weeks old.

Now two years old, Rafferty – affectionately known as Raffy, loves music just as much as his mum, who has been touring the country with iconic artists like Daryl Braithwaite, Tim Freedman and Fanny Lumsden.

“Raffy is a little noisemaker and we are thrilled that this is where we have landed after such a long road,” Ms Wilkinson said.

Mater Director of Neonatology Dr Pita Birch said research shows music therapy can improve the health outcome of premature babies.

“Premature babies are surrounded by breathing equipment and the beeping of machines, so to hear the sweet tunes of a lullaby, or in this case Ms Wilkinson’s new song, can be comforting to a baby and reduce their stress levels,” she said.