New baby toolkit to be distributed to parents-to-be across Leeds

Young families in Leeds are being offered a range of new support tools to help them through the first stages of parenthood due to a new project.
Picture by Katie Collins/ PA Wire.Picture by Katie Collins/ PA Wire.
Picture by Katie Collins/ PA Wire.

Health visitors and midwives in the city have been trained to deliver a new local toolkit, developed with child health charity Best Beginnings, to help parents-to-be on their journeys.

The support pack includes a free Baby Buddy smartphone app, Bump to Breastfeeding films, a monthly magazine and a DVD offering support when babies are sick or premature.

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Baby Buddy has been designed to provide parents with medical advice, information on local support, a calendar to plan important appointments, educational videos and a special bump to baby diary.

The impact of the new toolkit, which launched at an event at the Carriageworks today, will be monitored by health organisations across the city.

Coun Lisa Mulherin, Leeds City Council’s executive member for health, said: “We know how valuable it is for children to get the best start in life, from conception onwards. Having access to timely, trustworthy information when you need it can be so much easier if you can access good quality online help.

“That’s why I’m so pleased to see the Baby Buddy app and other sources of information being available for parents and parents-to-be, helping make a difference in the vital early weeks and months of the lives of children in Leeds.”

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Alison Baum, chief executive of Best Beginnings, added: “Baby Buddy has been designed with input from huge numbers of parents and professionals to support and enhance relationships – the relationship between parents and professionals, between partners and other family members and crucially between parents and children.”

Visit bestbeginnings.org.uk for further information.