SuperDinky Foundation

SuperDinky Foundation CIC

Who We Are

SuperDinky is a UK-based ecommerce brand specialising in premature baby clothing and NICU support products. Co-founded by Beth, a neonatal nurse and Lorna, a preemie mum whose son was born at 31 weeks, every product we make is born from lived experience on the ward.

Our products are GOTS certified organic cotton, UK-manufactured and designed with patented features specific to the needs of premature babies. We use compostable packaging and are a community-first brand that has built a loyal following among NICU families across the UK.

SuperDinky has received national press coverage including BBC and ITV, appeared on ITVX's Be Your Own Boss, won an Adobe / Simon Squibb competition, and was awarded 2026 Best Creative Baby & Toddler Brand in Nottingham.

Introducing the SuperDinky Foundation CIC

The SuperDinky Foundation CIC is the social impact pillar of our work — a Community Interest Company established to address the mental health crisis quietly unfolding across the UK in life after NICU.

The evidence is stark. A 2022 NIHR systematic review and meta-analysis — the largest of its kind, drawing on 56 studies involving over 6,000 parents — found that 40% of NICU parents develop clinically significant anxiety or post-traumatic stress symptoms. This is double the rate seen in the general perinatal population, and it has lifelong consequences: for the parent, for the child, and for the family unit.

Our Foundation exists to fund both prevention and treatment in creative, immediate and impactful ways. Our guiding principle is simple but uncompromising: we are targeting the most vulnerable within the most vulnerable.

Our First Project: The Kindness Project

The Problem

Within the already high-risk group of NICU parents, one population faces a compounded crisis: families navigating the NICU without English as their first language

Peer-reviewed research shows that families whose first language is not English are four times more likely to misidentify their baby's diagnosis than English-as a first language parents. Physicians communicate with them in their native language only 39% of the time. These parents experience higher parental stress, lower life satisfaction, and profound social isolation — all documented risk factors for PTSD.

Many of the cities with the highest concentration of deprived neighbourhoods (data from The 2025 IMD)— including Middlesbrough, Birmingham, Bradford, Hull and Liverpool — are also among England's most ethnically and linguistically diverse, meaning non-English speaking families are disproportionately concentrated in areas where support is already stretched thinnest.

Our Response

The Kindness Project is a specially designed care parcel, produced and distributed by the SuperDinky Foundation, targeted specifically at families for whom English is not their first language in NICUs in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation. Our aim is to reduce the language barrier between parents and staff in a human centered, caring and effective way. 

Each parcel contains:

A set of bilingual NICU communication cards: Illustrated cards in the ten most spoken languages in UK neonatal units, covering the most commonly used clinical phrases, ward terms, and the red/orange/green status system — enabling both nurses and parents to communicate more effectively without a professional interpreter present.

A NICU terminology guide: A plain-language explanation of the most commonly used medical terms in neonatal care, translated into each of the ten languages — reducing the fear and confusion that comes from not understanding what is happening to your baby.

An octopus comfort toy: Clinically supported for premature babies. A tactile comfort item for the baby that costs £5 at cost price and carries profound symbolic meaning for the NICU community.

A tea sachet: Because someone thought about you as a person, not just as a patient. A small act of human recognition at the hardest moment of a parent's life.

The communication cards are not a generic healthcare tool. They are designed by SuperDinky specifically for the neonatal environment, clinically informed, and co-developed with neonatal nursing expertise. They address a gap that has been documented in academic literature since 2001 — and which, to our knowledge, has never been addressed with a dedicated UK product.

The Evidence Base

The Kindness Project is not a well-meaning gesture. It is an evidence-based intervention targeting a documented, measurable gap in neonatal care. The research is clear: communication stress in the NICU compounds trauma. Reducing that stress has the potential to reduce PTSD outcomes. Our hypothesis is supported by a substantial body of peer-reviewed literature, and we are actively seeking clinical research partnerships to measure impact over time. 

How It Started

The Kindness Project was catalysed by a grant from Drop Dead Generous — a social experiment dedicated to exploring the ripple effect of giving. We were awarded $500 (approximately £400) with a brief to do something kind, make it contagious, and make it matter. (You can also apply here) 

That grant will fund the first pilot parcels of The Kindness Project — gifted to families in a pilot NICU with families who speak English as a second language. It is the spark. What we are looking for now are partners who want to fan the flame.

 

We Invite Your Interest

The SuperDinky Foundation is at the beginning of something significant. The Kindness Project is our first programme — but it is the proof of concept for a wider mission: to reduce PTSD in NICU parents by targeting the families most likely to suffer from it.

Corporate partnership with the SuperDinky Foundation offers the opportunity to fund tangible, measurable impact — with a clear beneficiary group, a credible evidence base, and a story that is both human and newsworthy.

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss how your organisation might be involved — whether as a founding funder of The Kindness Project, a translation or production partner, or a long-term supporter of the Foundation's wider work to bring joy and reduce PTSD in NICU families.

Contact Lorna lorna@superdinky.com to discuss