Health visiting

About the service

Our health visiting teams work with families, early years, health colleagues and other agencies to support the health and wellbeing of pre-school children across Herefordshire.

Health visitors are qualified nurses or midwives who have additional training in specialist community and public health nursing. They have specialist training in children's development and health promotion.

The health visiting teams comprise health visitors, community staff nurses, and community nursery nurses. As a service, we are committed to supporting the training of students, so students may accompany us during visits. If you would prefer for a student not to be present, please inform your health visitor.

The service provides information, advice, and support to pregnant women, expectant fathers, and parents/carers of new babies and young children. This includes advice on child health/development, maternal and family health, emotional wellbeing, sleep, crying, feeding, and much more.

What we offer

Our health visiting team will be in touch with you at various stages of your pregnancy and after your baby is born. This includes:

• During your pregnancy for an antenatal contact between 28-32 weeks
• Between day 10-14 for a new birth visit
• 6-8 weeks after your baby is born
• Between 4-6 months of age a Weaning/Dental workshopo with the Health Visiting Team
• Between 9-12 months for a development review by our Community Nursery Nurses
• Between 2-2.5 years for a development review by our Community Nursery Nurses
• Between 3-3.5 years of age a Child Readiness: Ready to Learn contract with the Communuity Nursery Nurse

Health visiting clinics

Our health visiting teams run health visiting clinics open to parents and carers of children under 5 years old. These clinics offer the opportunity to discuss any concerns about your child's health or development and have them weighed.

The clinics are a mix of booked appointments and drop-in sessions. If you would like to book a health visiting clinic appointment, please call our health visitor advice line at 07870 682711.

Baby Self-weigh clinics

We are pleased to be able to offer parents and carers of babies in Herefordshire, the ability to weigh your baby at one of our self weigh stations.  A number of these self-weigh stations  run alongside our established drop in clinics and we also have a self weigh station in the community at the HOPE Centre, Bromyard.  These stations are only suitable for children up to 12 months. 

If you have concerns about your baby's weight, health or development, please contact the Health Visting Advice line on 07870 682711 (Mon-Fri 9am-4pm). 

Weighing your baby is quick and easy, but if it is the first time using one of our self weigh stations or you need a little guidance, we have created a short video which can be accessed by scanning the below QR code:

Understanding your baby's growth

Your baby will be weighed during their first 2 weeks to make sure they're regaining their birthweight. Most babies are at, or above, their birthweight by 2 weeks.

A midwife or health visitor will support you if your baby loses a large amount of weight or does not regain their birthweight by 2 weeks.

They'll talk to you about how feeding is going, possibly ask to observe a feed if you're breastfeeding, and look at your baby's health in general.

After the first 2 weeks, your baby should be weighed:

• no more than once a month up to 6 months of age
• no more than once every 2 months from 6 to 12 months of age
• no more than once every 3 months over the age of 1

Your baby will usually only be weighed more often than this if there are concerns about their health or growth.

Your baby's length may also be measured at some of their developmental reviews.

Recording your baby's weight

At the back of your Red Book you will find a table to record your baby’s weight (page 51). You should complete this each time your baby is weighed and check your babies weight against the centile chart.  

Your child's growth will be recorded on centile charts in their  personal child health record (PCHR), or red book .

These charts show the pattern of growth healthy children usually follow, whether they're breastfed or formula fed, or having a mixture of both.

Boys and girls have different charts because boys tend to be a little heavier and taller, and their growth pattern is slightly different.

Plotting your baby's weight

1. Find your baby’s weight and follow the line across to age
2. Find your baby’s age in weeks/months and follow the line up to weight
3. Mark in pencil with a dot

Remember the blue chart should be followed for boys and pink chart for girls.

Please seek further support from your health visiting team on 07870 682711 if your child's weight:

• Has not increased
• Falls through one or more centiles
• Increases through 2 or more centiles
• Is now below the 2nd Centile
• Is now above the 98th Centile

(A centile refers to the curved lines on your baby's growth chart in the red book) 

Health visiting clinics dates and locations - find out more.

Workshops

The Health Visiting service is pleased to be able to offer workshops across Herefordshire. 

Antenatal Workshop (30+ weeks) - The antenatal workshop is offered to all those expectant parents in Herefordshire, the antenatal workshop covers: 

• An introduction to the health visiting service
• Transition to parenthood
• Baby brain development 
• Feeding your baby 
• Keeping your baby safe 
• Parental wellbeing 

You should receive a letter from the service inviting you to our workshop.  Alternatively, if you over 30 weeks pregnant and would like to attend please contact the Health Visiting team to book your space on 01432 802027 (Mon-Fri 9am-4pm) or email wvt.healthvisitingappointments@nhs.net (please let us know your name, DOB and postcode when emailing).

Weaning/Dental Workshop - (4-6 months of age) - The weaning and dental workshops provide parents with an opportunity to find out more about the weaning process and maintaining good dental health. Weaning plays an important role in your baby's development and they will be ready for weaning at around 6 months of age. 

Weaning and dental workshops are offered across Herefordshire and you should receive a letter to invite you and your child to our workshop.  If your child is approaching 4 months and you would like to book onto a workshop then please ring 01432 802027 (Mon-Fri 9am-4pm) or email wvt.healthvisitingappointments@nhs.net (please include your child's name, DOB and postcode).  

Health visitor advice line

The health visitor advice line provides parents/carers of 0-5 year olds in Herefordshire with advice from the health visiting team about a child’s health or development.

Parents and carers can seek advice on a wide range of topics such as breastfeeding, bottle feeding, sleep, toileting, behavior, eating, minor injuries/ailments, parenting support, and much more.

The health visitor advice line is managed by a Health Visitor and runs Monday-Friday 9am-4pm (excluding bank holidays and weekends). If you leave a message outside of these hours, we will respond within one working day. If it's the weekend or a bank holiday, we will respond on the next working day.

Call 07870 682711 for support from a health visitor.

The health visitor advice line is not an emergency service. For urgent medical attention and advice, please contact your GP, 111, or 999.

Please follow the Herefordshire Health Visitors on Facebook for up-to-date service information and advice.

Helpline contact numbers

Breastfeeding support:

National Breastfeeding Helpline: 0300 100 0212, La Leche League: 0345 120 2918, National Childbirth Trust (NCT): 0300 330 0700

Domestic Abuse Support:

National Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247 (24 hours), The Men's Advice Line for male domestic abuse survivors (Respect): 0808 801 0327, National LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline (Galop): 0800 999 5428, Women's Aid: 0800 783 1359

Mental Health Support:

Herefordshire Mental Health Support Line (24 hours): 0808 196 9127

Drug and Alcohol Support:

Turning Point Hereford: 0300 555 0747, Alcoholics Anonymous National Helpline: 0800 9177 650

Child Safeguarding:

To find out information about child safeguarding and contact details, visit our child safeguarding website page.

Social Media Channels: 

Follow us on Facebook @HerefordshireHealthVisitors 

www.facebook.com/Herefordshirehealthvisitors