This NHS guide includes everything you need to know about caring for a baby/ child including topics such as:

• Caring for a newborn baby
• Support and services
• Baby's development

This video library contains useful videos including:

• general baby care
• newborn baby symptom checker
• sudden infant death syndrome
• breastfeeding
• bottle feeding

There are also useful videos for post-birth topics such as:

• after your c-section
• pelvic floor exercises
• post pregnancy symptom checker
• postnatal contraception

Worcestershire Maternity Video Library

Worcestershire has partnered with The Solihull Approach to offer free online courses for parents, carers, grandparents and teens living in the county.

Fully funded courses are for ALL Worcestershire parents-to-be, parents, grandparents and carers of any child from pregnancy up to teenage years.

What is the Solihull Approach?

How to access the courses

To access the online courses and sign up, use the link below

Sign up to online parenting courses

Use the access code: PARENTSROCK

You will then need to create your account and select the course/s you want to do (you can do them all over time). Once registered, you have unlimited access to all courses.

Find out more about some of the courses available below.

Find out information about preparing to give birth, bonding with your baby, your emotional health and labour

• Online antenatal courses

Find out more about understanding your baby, having a nurturing relationship and supporting them to thrive.

• Online postnatal courses

Understanding your pre-term or sick baby in hospital and at home

Find out how to develop a close and connected relationship with your baby when you may be feeling overwhelmed

• Understanding your pre-term or sick baby in hospital
• Understanding your pre-term or sick baby now you're home

No matter your family setup, the important relationships in your child’s life help shape their emotional health and wellbeing. These courses offer a reflective space to think about your child’s development, their behaviour and how they are communicating.

• Understanding your child
• Understanding your child with additional needs
• Moving up to secondary school for children with additional needs
• Understanding your child's mental health and wellbeing

This course will help you understand the rapid development of the teenage brain and what this means for their mental health.

• Understanding your teenagers brain

This course helps you with emotional wellbeing, communicating feelings, and managing conflict or anger in relationships.

• Understanding your relationships

This course helps you reflect on your mental wellbeing to recognise, understand and process trauma with resilience.

• Understanding your own trauma

Family Hubs

Family Hubs run an exciting array of parenting workshops, groups and courses, some of which include:

• understanding your baby, child, teen, or child with additional needs courses
• workshops on topics such as sleep, fussy eating, behaviour

Family Hubs also run the Birth and Beyond antenatal course.

All sessions are free to attend and run by trained staff and volunteers.

For details on each Family Hub, see: Local Family Hubs

Visit: Starting Well Booking Page to book a space.

SENDIASS (Special Education Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support Services) provide free training workshops and online information sessions for parents/ carers/ families with a child or young person with SEND.

SENDIASS workshops for parent and carers 

Starting Well Partnership - Better sleeping habits for children over 10 years

Starting Well Partnership - Better sleeping habits for children under 10 years

Starting Well Partnership - The Importance of routines for children over 10 years

Starting Well Partnership - Sensory Play

Starting Well Partnership - Sensory Strategies

ERIC (The Children’s bowel and bladder charity) offer free webinars for parents on potty training and bowel and bladder issues. 

Recordings of previous webinars are also available. To find out more and book a place, visit: Family webinars - ERIC

The Starting Well Partnership supports parents, families, children and young people across Worcestershire. Families in each of the districts are supported by a range of health professionals including Health Visitors, Community Nursery Nurses, School Health Nurses, and Health Care Assistants.

The team provide support for parents and families and support for young people 
 

Family first from Youth Support Services (YSS)

The Families First service delivered in the Worcestershire area by YSS, is a pilot program aiming to support families who have a parent or partner in prison.

The service provides one to one support and guidance in a safe space, to enable the whole family to cope with the demands of having a partner, and parent, in prison.

YSS Families First provides expert support and guidance for families to navigate through the criminal justice system, including preparations for prison visits. 

The key workers also provide one to one emotional and practical support for the children to process the imprisonment and the family as a whole. The criteria for referral is for the family to be residing in Worcestershire and for the partner/parent to be imprisoned or about to be sentenced.

Find out more: Families First from YSS

The National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel has identified that non-accidental injuries to babies under 1 years old consist of 27% of serious incidents where a child has suffered serious harm or died

Abusive Head Trauma can occur if a baby is shaken and this carries a high risk of significant long-term problems, or even death.

These short videos have been developed to help raise awareness that:

• infant crying is normal
• comforting methods can help
• it’s ok to walk away
• never, ever shake a baby

Follow these links to access the videos:

Home from Work (YouTube)
Morning at Home (YouTube)

• Home from Work (YouTube)
• Morning at Home (YouTube)

For more information about baby crying and resources for parents and professionals, visit Home - ICON Cope.

Here you can search for childcare near you. This includes childcare that has spaces for 2, 3 and 4-year old funded children, as well as those that provide before and after school pick-ups and those that specifically cater for children with a disability or special educational need.

Childcare Choices

Childcare
 

Starting school for the first time can be an exciting time but also very daunting for both the child and the parents. Here you will find some things that will help your child get ready to start school and make the most of their learning. 

Find out more: Is your child ready for school?

Provides information about food, activities and support available to families and children from nursery and primary aged, through to older children and teenagers during the school holidays.

Find out more: Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme 

These links provide support, tips, and guidance for communicating with children who are deaf or hard of hearing:

• deaf awareness tips (PDF)
• learn British Sign Language
• British Sign webpage
• 100 basic signs in BSL (YouTube)
• BSL interpretation services in Worcestershire (PDF)

NCT has a life as a parent directory of information about your own health and wellbeing, how to thrive through changes you might be experiencing and some of the practicalities of being a parent.

Life as a parent information - NCT

NSPCC has a number of webpages with support and advice for parents including early parenting advice; managing family life; supporting yourself and more

Support & advice for parents - NSPCC