What we are trying to do?
We work with families in the first 1001 days: the time from conception through until a child turns 2. The Hub’s focus is on reducing parental stress; promoting positive mental and physical health and wellbeing; encouraging social connections; and sharing evidence based information.
Why the first 1001 days?
The first few years of life are a hugely important time with babies’ brains developing at their fastest rate ever, creating tons of connections, or synapses, to help babies to learn about the world around them. Babies’ brains are directly developing from the experiences they have with their caregivers.
We know this is a vulnerable time for so many parents no matter their age, background or income levels. And so our Perinatal Lead builds strong relationships with Feltham parents to support them to attend many of our parent infant programmes and access other resources within the area.
How we are doing this?
Our work includes:
- Meeting families in pregnancy and providing free classes that focus on health and wellbeing
- Providing free antenatal education classes to develop parents’ ability to make informed decisions
- Connecting postnatal parents through WhatsApp groups and drop in weekly coffee mornings
- Providing five week baby massage courses to support parents to use nurturing touch with their babies.
- Offering tailored, one-to-one and group support to encourage and develop early language and promote positive, nurturing play techniques
- Leading postnatal ‘walk and talks’
“I was amazed to see how many new mothers are near me and may be feeling the same as me: lonely, tired, wanting to talk to others and of course loving their babies. I used to think that I am the only one who is going through this especially in this pandemic. Now I believe I can make friends and have someone to talk to!”
“The antenatal course made a big difference, I felt a lot happier being given the information and having contacts with people who can help me post birth!”
“Rebecca is amazing at explaining things and has such a vast knowledge of babies. I have really struggled with post-natal depression, but baby massage has helped me to bond with my baby in a way I didn’t think was possible. “