GMB's Laura Tobin breaks down while discussing premature birth of daughter and launches special cards for preemies

What do you think of the idea?

Laura Tobin

GMB's weather presenter Laura Tobin was unable to hold back tears while discussing the premature birth of her baby daughter.

The new mum welcomed her daughter almost a year ago, on 25 July 2017, while she was still three months away from her due date.

Because she was born premature and weighed just just 2lb 8oz, little Charlotte had to spend three months in hospital, which was obviously a very difficult time for her and her parents.

Speaking about it, Laura said on Good Morning Britain while visibly becoming emotional: 'Our baby Charlotte was born extremely premature, three months early, and it was a very stressful time. Friends and family want to offer support but it’s hard to know what to say and do, especially as we were in hospital with Charlotte every day.'

Laura also spoke about the new greeting cards launched by Hallmark and baby charity Bliss, especially designed for parents of premature babies, which were inspired by the TV presenter's experience.

She said: 'Sending a traditional baby card with a baby on, or cute images, may be upsetting to parents of premature babies as it reminds them of what they are missing out on - a baby at home.

'Also cards like "thinking of you", could imply the worst. Quite a few people sent blank cards with personal messages inside as they wanted to let us know they were thinking of us.

The mum got special help from her little one to present the weather

She added: 'When one of the GMB team said how hard it had been to find a suitable card to send when Charlotte was born, that sparked the idea. I thought it was so lovely, tears came to my eyes. There were no cards like this on sale before, these are the first ever. So having special premature baby cards will mean people know they are offering support to the parents at what is a very emotional time.

'I feel really moved because I know that anyone else who has a premature baby, those words for them will be really supportive and it will bring some happiness on these really long days.

'It will mean friends and families aren't so awkward about it. The hospital where Charlotte was born, they all said the same. They all said how they felt, how they wish they had cards.'

Many viewers took to social media to praise the mum for sharing her story, with one saying: 'Bless your heart Laura, this is amazing, fantastic. What wonderful way to enable support for parents in the most difficult times @GMB @Lauratobin1'.

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Another added: 'Had 24week Twins 17 yrs ago... and Laura just made me cry... been waiting for these premature baby cards... thank you so much as they would have helped me so much too ❤️'.

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Mariana Cerqueira
Lifestyle Editor

Mariana is a lifestyle writer who has written for Goodto.com and My Imperfect Life. She joined the Goodto.com team as an intern after completing her journalism MA at City University. After six months spent writing about food, celebrity news, and family trends, Mariana left to write for Healthy Food magazine - but returned in 2017, to join the Future team once again. In her spare time, you’ll find Mariana in the kitchen cooking for her friends.