Midwives in Hull are throwing open the hospital doors in support of the city’s first ever “Baby Week”.
The team at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital will run a special ‘Baby Carousel’ to mark the start of the week-long event organised by the Hull Early Help Partnership.
Baby Carousel events are open to all new parents and parents-to-be, offering the opportunity to browse stands, gather information, and speak to professionals on a whole manner of different subjects including:
- Eating well during pregnancy
- Pre and post-natal exercise
- Home birth and hypno-birth
- Baby car seats
- Feeding and bathing
- Safer sleeping techniques
- Changing a nappy
- Baby massage
- Safety in the home
- Mental wellbeing
- Support to stop smoking
This special Baby Carousel will kick off the week’s celebrations on Wednesday 13 November, from 6:30 – 8:30pm at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital – no booking necessary.
Geraldine Hotham, Childbirth Educator Project Lead says: “The Baby Carousel is a valuable opportunity for new and expectant parents, family and loved ones, to access important information and connect with other families in a friendly environment.
“As well as being exciting, becoming a parent can also be a daunting prospect, so it’s important to be able to cut through some of the noise and receive advice straight from the experts. A happy, healthy, comfortable, and positive parent is the best thing for any child’s health and wellbeing.”
The Baby Carousel will take place at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital
Visitors to the event will also be invited to join in one of Hull’s fastest-recruiting family studies to date. The Born and Bred in (BaBi) Hull and East Yorkshire study looks at factors which influence child and family health, and has the potential to shape and improve family health for generations to come.
Participants will be in good company, as the local research midwives have already smashed their one-year recruitment target three times over after just eight months, with more than 1,400 people now signed up to take part. All people booked for pregnancy care at Hull Royal Infirmary will be eligible to join the study.
Sarah Collins, Lead Research Midwife for the BaBi Hull and East Yorkshire study says:
“We know life becomes a bit of a whirlwind for new parents, so the great thing about this study is that it’s not time consuming for people to help out, and that may be part of its appeal.
“BaBi Hull and East Yorkshire will look at the factors which may impact children’s health and then use this data to make service improvements or to highlight changes within our community which could give future generations the chance to grow up healthier and happier.
“There’s no need for us to ask questions, to weigh or measure the baby, or for parents to keep a diary; it’s as straight forward as giving us consent to access data for the purpose of our research. And if people later decide they don’t want to take part, that’s no problem either.”
Please come along and chat to any of the teams on the evening of Wednesday 13 November.