A tailored programme designed to help young Paisley mums in the early days of parenthood celebrated its first birthday at the Lagoon Leisure Centre on Friday, 28 August.
The Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme is aimed at women aged 19 and under expecting their first child.
Held between 11am-2pm, the day focused on fun family activities designed to further develop the bond between parents and young children.
Following a welcome from Mark Feinmann, North East Sector director of the Glasgow City CHP, active fun singing and play sessions were held before lunch.
In the afternoon, a Bookbug session ran by the Children & Family Mobile Library Service proved to be a big hit.
Community nursery nurses were on hand to demonstrate baby massage. These have many benefits for babies, including improving weight gain, aiding digestion, improving circulation, easing teething pain, and improving the bond between babies and parents.
A number of other activities also ran throughout the day. These included a nail bar, a smoothie bike where people could hop on a bike attached to a food processor and make healthy fruit smoothies through pedal power, an art table and various fun stations.
Anne Burns, FNP Supervisor at Renfrewshire Community Health Partnership (CHP), said: “The Family Nurse Partnership works with the strengths of the mothers and encourages them to fulfil their aspirations for both their baby and themselves.
“Around 100 young mums and their children are involved in the Family Nurse Partnership in the area and events like today’s party can play a part in a child’s development and it was good to welcome so many along.
“We wanted to celebrate all the good work these young people have accomplished over the last year. The party was a great way to mark their progress and let them meet other families who are benefitting from the service.”
The mums start the FNP programme, which is based around the future health and wellbeing of their child, in early pregnancy and participate in a schedule of regular home visits which continues until the child is two years old.
Those using the service decide along with their Family Nurse what they want to cover in each visit. Nurses will share a range of information on pregnancy, giving birth, and looking after babies and toddlers.
The three overarching goals of the FNP are to improve antenatal health and birth outcomes; child health and development; and to improve the economic self-sufficiency of the family.
Thirty-five years of development and three large scale research trials have shown consistent short and long term benefits for children and families including:
- Reduction in pregnancy during pregnancy
- Greater intervals between, and fewer subsequent, pregnancies
- Reduction in child abuse and neglect
- Better language development in children
- Fewer accidents
- Increases in employment
- Greater involvement of fathers
- Improved school readiness
- Increase in warm, responsive parenting
The Family Nurses delivering the programme are predominantly from health visiting and midwifery backgrounds who have received extra training at an advanced level.
The Family Nurse Partnership Team is based at Renfrew Health & Social Work Centre, 10 Ferry Road, Renfrew PA4 8RU. They can be contacted on 0141 207 7448 or gg-uhb.familynursepartnership@nhs.net.