Find support throughout your pregnancy, right through to the birth of your little one.
Select 'View all services' or browse our highlights below.
Help and Advice:
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The Bump to Baby programme which is usually run by health visitors, midwives and children’s centre staff is now available online: Bump to Baby Online Presentations
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You can now access Breastfeeding support currently available, including helplines and peer support groups on one page: Breastfeeding Support
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Ready, Steady... Eat - An introduction to solid food is now available Online!
- Week-by-week guide to pregnancy | Start4Life
- Your guide to pregnancy | NCT
- Preparing for pregnancy | Family Lives
- Healthy eating during pregnancy | Healthy Start
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Vitamins and supplements in pregnancy | Start4Life
- Your guide to labour | NCT
- What happens during labour and birth | NHS
- Am I in labour? - NHS
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Sex and intimacy information for new parents | Click
If you're in the pregnancy phase, or if you've just had a child, you may be facing some unique relationship challenges. It's likely that one of those challenges will be sex, and how to stay intimate together.
Quick links:
Helston Birth Centre Royal Cornwall Hospital Penrice Birth Centre
Explore birth centres in cornwall.
Supporting you to have a Healthy Pregnancy
Working with your midwife, the Healthy Pregnancy team is available to provide advice and support on a range of health promotion topics.
Breast Feeding Advice and Support
Start4Life Breastfeeding Friend on Facebook Messenger
If you have any breastfeeding questions – the Start4Life Breastfeeding Friend chatbot (via Facebook Messenger) has lots of useful information and expert advice to share with you. Whether you're experiencing breastfeeding difficulties or want to know which vitamins to take while breastfeeding, the chatbot is available 24⁄7. You can also get the Start4Life Breastfeeding Friend on Amazon Alexa.
Health Visitors
Central Line: 01872 322779
Infant Feeding TeamMaternity Services Triage Line: 01872 258000
Please send an email to rcht.feedingsupport@nhs.net if you’d like help with feeding your baby.
BISC: Breastfeeding Information and Support Cornwall
BISC - Friendly non-judgemental peer-to-peer support
We are a network of volunteers who give information, guidance and support to parents for feeding their babies with human milk and formula. Peer Supporters are trained by Cornwall Council (or Real Baby Milk) and are all parents who have breastfed their babies. Peer supporters are welcoming, non-judgemental and well-informed.
Support over the phone:
National Breastfeeding Helpline:
0300 100 0212
https://www.nationalbreastfeedinghelpline.org.uk/
National Childbirth Trust:
0300 330 0700
https://www.nct.org.uk/
Association of Breastfeeding Mothers:
0300 330 5453
https://abm.me.uk/get-breastfeeding-support/
Online Information:
- NHS | Breastfeeding: positioning and attachment
- Baby Friendly Initiative | Breast Feeding Resources
- La Leche League UK: Friendly breastfeeding support from pregnancy onwards
- Milk Meg | Virtual Breastfeeding Help
- Breastfeeding Twins and Triplets UK | Support for Breastfeeding
Healthy Start
Healthy Start is a government funded, national scheme that provides vouchers every week to spend on milk, plain fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, and infant formula milk. It also provides vouchers for free vitamins. The vouchers can be worth over £900 per child if they are claimed for the entire qualifying period.
The qualifying criteria for Healthy Start are as follows:
A person must be at least 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under four years old and they or their family get:
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Child Tax Credit with a family income of £16,190 or less per year
- Pension Credit; or
- Universal Credit with no earned income or total earned income of £408 or less per month for the family. (To find this refer to your Universal Credit award notice in the section “your take home pay for this month”.)
A person also qualifies if they are under 18 and pregnant, even if they don’t get any of the above benefits.
For more information please follow this link.
Baby Guides:
- Click here for the Essential guide to feeding & caring for your baby Cornwall & Isles of Scilly
- Support for new parents | NCT
- Your pregnancy and baby guide | NHS
- Coping with a new baby | Relate
- Breastfeeding | NHS
- Breastfeeding benefits | Start4Life
- Eating well, for infants & new mums | First Steps Nutrition
- Baby Bath Time: 10 step guide | NCT
- Cradle cap | NHS
- Your baby's vaccination schedule | Start4Life
Breastfeeding Groups Antenatal Classes
Health Visitor Clinic Baby Massage Classes
Ready, Steady…Eat! – An Introduction to Solid Food
Pregnancy & Baby Family Services
All services and support from bump to two years, relating to general family life and parenting. Includes prenatal and antenatal classes, along with activities for mum and baby to enjoy.
With Healthy Start, you get free vouchers every week to spend on milk, plain fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, and infant formula milk. You can also get free vitamins. You qualify for Healthy Start Vouchers if you’re at least 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under four years old and you or your family are on qualifying benefits.
The HANDi Paediatric app gives up-to-date advice about common childhood illnesses and how to treat them. It’s now available to download for free onto any Apple or Android smartphone or tablet. The app contains information about when and how to ask for help, along with what to expect when your child is being assessed.
Download HandiApp - Apple Download HandiApp - Android
Helpful Videos:
View more helpful videos on the NHS website.
Specialist support:
Support for parents with babies who have disabilities:
Parents Carers Cornwall
Are you a parent/carer of a child with additional needs or disabilities? Do you attend meetings with schools, health services and organisations? Do you lack confidence in attending these on your own and wish you had someone who could go with you? Parents 4 Parents…07591 019548
Friends of Face2Face Cornwall Oasis Group
Are you the parent/carer of a child 0-25 with a disability or additional need? If so, please join us for a friendly chat with trained parent befrienders who can offer support and signposting. Also meet with other parent/carers in a similar situation over a cuppa!
Support for parents who have disabilities:
The Special Parenting Service
The Special Parenting Service (SPS) supports parents with a learning disability or difficulty. Our team helps parents by providing specialist assessment and intervention to help them achieve their parenting potential and improve outcomes for their children. The service also provides specialist consultation to health and…01209 318358