Don't know how you can help out long distance, but what you can do is get as much information and pass it on to them. There are very good books out from Woodbine House, also the baby with Down Syndrome needs therapies, like speech and physical therapies, and they should be started very early, it is so important.So get as informed about Down Syndrome as you can get and if you have any questions you can message me, I am more than willing to help.

I think most important is to keep contact with the baby's parents (especially the mom!). When my Down Syndrome daughter was born, people tended to keep their distance, because they did not know how to handle the situation. And most of all I just needed someone to talk to! Be there for them, even if you don't have answers for them. Just by listening and caring, you can become a valuable anchor in their lives.

You are a wonderful person to care so much!

I like your advice Andelene, it is so nice to have contact and support after giving birth, specially to a child with special needs. I felt so very alone.

I really appreacite your thoughts and suggestions- I would very much like recommended books! I am a huge believer in early intervention and plan on suggesting it. How early did you experience early intervention with your children?

I don't know about formal early intervention in the US but there are loads of things a parent can do at home like baby massage oral motor stuff and things like that. I think the baby would probably be seeing an OT and physio already and probably a speech therapist. The best thing to do is follow the instructions these therapists give you as any I fervent ion works best if it is done very often. Google Riverbend and you will find an amazing all inclusive site on Down Syndrome. Www.talktools.com is another one . Downsed is another great organisation with tailored educational interventions. Just be wary about bombarding the parents with too much information. If you researching for yourself that's fine but if you are passing on info be careful. People go at their own pace is learning about Down Syndrome and some rather tiny drip feed until they are mentally stronger. If the baby has medical issues they will be more important than Down syndrome itself. Being at a distance it would be difficult for you to gauge how the parents are doing. Just be careful and don't overload or bombard. They may just not be ready for too much info yet. In fact asking them questions on how the child is doing and how the therapies are going may be a very good thing because it will give them a chance to talk about positive stuff that they are in control of. I think the helplessness of not being able to ' fix' your baby is very hard at the start and it may take a while before you realise they don't need fixing just help to develop and be all they can be .

Woodbine House has a variety of books on Down Syndrome and they are very up to date. We started therapies (speech, physical) when my son was about 6 month old, first the therapiest would come to the house and at around age two my son would attend the local preschool for special needs kids. I was so glad we lived in an area where we had all those things at this time (24 years ago), also we never moved because not everywhere did you find such good programs for special needs children. Google "Woodbine House" and it should take you to their webside.

I was in the hospital early this year for a week. My adult children needed a break from their brother. I told them to connect to FB and he was entertained for 2 hours. He just kept saying, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy." He's eight. Try online video chats. :-)

Oh another resource I found was Yoga for Down Syndrome. It was so helpful to me to know I could give my son the best I could offer him at the time. Hope this helps! Also, the riverbend site has loads of information on DS. Pass this on to your family. It's a homeschool site, but well worth reading considering that parents are their children's first teachers.
http://www.riverbendds.org/index.htm?page=nacdjoshua.html

Just talk to them on the phone or skype or take a vacation like once a year to go see them! I don't know I am just trying to help, I that was helpful!