Maternal health
The City of London activities timetable displays information about the regular free events for families taking place across City of London libraries and the City Child and Family Centre, including breastfeeding and parent support groups.
For information about further events, please see the What's On section on this website (see related links).
For a downloadable copy of the timetable, visit the Child and Family Centre page (see related links).
If you have any questions, please contact: FIS@cityoflondon.gov.uk
For more information about breastfeeding support, please visit:
Breast and Infant Feeding Group
First and third Wednesday of the month, 11am - 1pm
City Child and Family Centre
Breast and Infant Feeding Group
Third Wednesday of the month, 10am - 12pm
Library | Barbican
Family Nurse Partnership is a voluntary home visiting programme for first time young mothers (and fathers) aged 19 or under. A specially trained family nurse visits the young mother regularly, from early in pregnancy until the child is two.
Read more below or watch the video to find out more about the service.
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Family nurses work with young mothers and fathers to enable them to:
- build positive relationships with their baby and understand their baby’s needs
- make the lifestyle choices that will give their child the best possible start in life
- build their self-efficacy (belief and ability to plan and achieve their goals)
- build positive relationships with others, modelled by building a positive relationship with the family nurse
Family nurses will regularly visit clients at home (every 1 – 2 weeks) from early in pregnancy until their child is two years old. Home visits usually last between an hour and an hour and a half.
The family nurse will share ideas with clients and decide together which topic would be most helpful for each visit. Example topics for home visits include:
- keeping healthy in pregnancy
- preparing for labour
- supporting their baby to grow and learn
- planning to meet their life goals
The programme goals are to:
- improve pregnancy outcomes
- improve child health and development and future school readiness and achievement
- improve parents’ economic self-sufficiency
Contact details:
Tel: 020 7241 7857
Email: whh-tr.FNP-Hackney@nhs.net
Website: The Family Nurse Partnership | (fnp.nhs.uk)
Address:
Linden Children's Centre
86 - 92 Rectory Road
Hackney
London
N16 7SH
Opening hours: Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm
Appointments are booked with clients directly by allocated family nurse
Who are we?
Health visitors are nurses or midwives with specialist training in family and public health. We help parents and their families to improve health and wellbeing during pregnancy, after birth and all the way through until your child is five.
Who do we work with?
We work as part of a wider health team which includes nursery nurses, GPs, midwives, paediatricians, psychologists, speech therapists, and other health professionals. We also work closely with Children’s Centre staff, family support workers, and Children’s Social Care.
Where will you see us?
You will meet us in your home or in local Well Baby Clinics, your GP’s surgery, a Children’s Centre, or in an Early Years setting. We offer you and your child five health and developmental appointments as part of the Department of Health's “Healthy Child Programme”. We are here to help, listen, understand your needs, and work in partnership with you to give your family the best start.
When will we see you?
- During your pregnancy – after 28 weeks you will be contacted by our team
- 10 – 14 days after the birth of your baby
- 6 to 8 weeks
- 8 to 12 months
- 27 months
What services and support do we offer?
Drop-in Well Baby Clinics which you can attend without an appointment.
Scheduled appointments
We can talk about any of the following issues that you and your family might need advice or support with:
- Breastfeeding
- Milk and food for babies, toddlers, and older children
- Sleep
- Understanding crying
- Managing childhood illnesses
- Your child’s development
- Your well-being as parents
- Understanding your child’s behaviour
- Play and stimulation
- Talking to your baby and child
Can health visitors help families who need extra advice and support?
Yes. Our service is for the whole family. We know that being a parent or carer can be very hard; particularly if you are feeling low, anxious, or you cannot cope.
Your health visitor can give you support and provide advice on:
- you and your family’s emotional health and wellbeing
- any additional health and developmental needs your baby or child might have
- developing a relationship with your baby
- domestic abuse
- drug and alcohol problems
- changes in your family life
What are Early Help Assessments and Referrals?
If you are worried about your child's or family’s safety you can ask us for help.
We work together with local services and parents to provide support, including safeguarding our local families and children.
All members of the Health Visiting team use the Children’s Social Care needs thresholds and referral pathways.
Staff who identify a child or family in need of additional support use a child-centred Early Help Form to make a referral to the Multi-Agency Team (MAT) at the Children's Centre.
The Health Visiting service will ensure that:
- Early and timely referrals take place
- The Early Help Form is used to assess children’s needs and to decide how these could best be met
- This form will be completed with parental agreement and discussion
- Early Help referrals to the Children's Centre team will identify supportive interventions for families.
- The Early Help Form will support joint working with other local services such as Early Years.
Additional support needs and disabilities
Some families have children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and often require additional support from specialist services.
If you have any concerns regarding your child’s progress, you can speak to your doctor or health visitor. These concerns could be with common issues such as sleep or toilet training or any questions regarding your child’s development such as speech and language or reaching other developmental milestones.
Your health visitor will try to help or link you in with a specialist service that can help.
Who to contact:
Team A - Barton House Health Centre: 020 7683 4955 John Scott Health Centre: 020 7683 4700
Team B - Fountayne Road Health Centre: 020 7683 4831
Team C - Hackney Ark: 0207 014 7093
Team D - Lower Clapton Health Centre: 020 7683 4695
Team E - St Leonards Hospital 1st Floor D Block: 020 7683 4151 / 4131 / 4153 / 4059
Team F - Ann Tayler Children’s Centre: 020 7275 6028/29/30 Well street Practice: 0207 683 2636/ 2638 / 2639 Central Number: 0207 683 4151 or 0207 683 4219
Time/days:
Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm
Who is eligible?
Health visiting is a universal service offered to all parents living in the City of London and the London Borough of Hackney.
Phone: 020 7683 4219
Who we are:
We are the charity that supports people as they become parents. We're here for you through pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood.
What we do:
We connect, inform and support parents through our antenatal and postnatal courses, bringing people together to share information and experiences of pregnancy, birth, and life with a new baby. Our peer support programmes are there for parents who may be under-served by society or who are experiencing challenges with mental health, social isolation, or other unmet needs.
We host thousands of community-based events across the UK. If you’re a new or expectant parent, chances are you’ve joined one of our Bumps & Babies Groups or visited a Baby Café to access infant feeding support. Many of these activities are run by our volunteers, who give more than 70,000 hours of outstanding community service each year.
We support parents to make informed decisions that feel right for them. We provide access to evidence-based information through our website, Parent Hub and free Infant Feeding Support Line 365-days a year.
More information:
For more information, please visit the NCT website: About us | The National Childbirth Trust | NCT
To be populated
PANDAS is a charity with a mission: ‘To be the UK’s most recognised and trusted support service for families and their networks who may be suffering with perinatal mental illness, including prenatal (antenatal) and postnatal depression.’
Our aim is to make sure no parent, family or carer feels alone. We have a variety of support services available to ensure help is delivered in a way that is right for you. No one suffering any form of mental illness should feel they’re on their own.
We offer motivational, educational and positive content through our social media channels, which adds to our value for the parents who need our help the most.
PANDAS Foundation values difference and diversity and does not discriminate on the grounds of age, gender, sexual preference, orientation, marital status, race, religion, colour, national origin, disability, heritage or political belief.
For more information: Home – PANDAS Foundation UK
Who we are:
The Perinatal Service and Margaret Oates Mother and Baby Unit is an Adult Mental Health Service working with women who have moderate to severe mental health difficulties in pregnancy or within the first year after child birth. The mental-health difficulty may be pre-existing, have started during pregnancy or started after childbirth.
What we do:
Members of the team have different professional backgrounds including; nursing, psychology, and medicine. This experienced and diverse team has particular experience in the care and treatment of women from diverse cultures. A range of opportunities to engage mothers, infants and families in the process of recovery are offered.
If there is a previous, current or family history of mental health difficulties, a woman can agree to a referral to this service.
Tel: 020 8510 8151/020 8510 8552
Website: https://www.elft.nhs.uk/service/218/Perinatal-Service
Address:
City and Hackney Centre for Mental Health
Perinatal Mental Health Service
Homerton Row
Hackney
Maternity Action is the UK’s maternity rights charity dedicated to promoting, protecting and enhancing the rights of all pregnant women, new mothers and their families to employment, social security and health care.
We provide free advice on maternity and parental rights at work, pay and benefits to pregnant women, new parents, trade unions and advisers.
We offer free and confidential expert advice to women who have received an invoice for maternity care and/or who have been told that they will be charged for NHS maternity care.
We provide training and support to health professionals, advisers, community workers and volunteers supporting vulnerable migrant women during pregnancy and their child’s first year.
For more information: Home - Maternity Action