Hello
Parliament's House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee are seeking parents’ views on the challenges they faced and the support they received during the first 1000 days of their child’s life. If there's anything you'd like the Committee to know, please post it on this thread by 21 December - more details from the Committee below.
Thanks
MNHQ
"The early years of a child's life from conception, through pregnancy to age two are vital to their physical, mental and emotional health and development. Problems that occur in this period can not only affect a person’s childhood, but the rest of their life: their physical and mental health, their ability to learn, communicate and manage their emotions."
"Parents have a critical role to play. For example, parents who are able to understand their baby’s cues and tune into their baby’s needs support their baby’s brain to develop. All parents need support during this time from their families and friends, but also from local public services (e.g. midwives, GPs, childrens’ centres and health visitors). These services can help to identify problems in a child’s development and provide support for parents and families to help make sure children are given the best start in life."
"We want to know from parents and would-be parents about their experiences during the first 1000 days of their child’s life, particularly the services they use: have they seen the same midwife, GP and health visitor at each appointment or visit? Were services delivered from the same location? How long did the appointments or visits last? Did you get the support you needed? Did you feel confident in speaking to them?"
"The feedback we receive from parents through replies to this forum post will be anonymised and used to inform our report, which will include recommendations for Government on how to improve the support available for families in the first 1000 days."
"Please reply by midday on 21 December if you want your experiences to feed into the report."
"Find out more about the First 1000 days of life inquiry here."