Antenatal Education
Face to face antenatal education workshops are now available across Wigan. These sessions are delivered with our midwifery service, health visiting teams, Be Well and Start Well Family Hubs, and community infant feeding team.
Antenatal education can provide advice about pregnancy, birth and parenting. These can help ease worries about labour and birth, offer a space to ask questions and gain further information and help you prepare for parenthood.
Our sessions run in blocks of four weeks, and are held at The Meadows Family Hub, The Westleigh Family Hub and Mornington Road Family Hub. There is also a monthly online session, which you can book using the QR code below.
Health Visitors
The Health Visiting Service is available to all children and families, including children with additional health needs.
We provide advice, information and support to families and children and help parents make decisions that improve their family’s future health and well-being.
Essential Parent
Essential Parent hosts expert-led, evidence-based parental advice, guidance and support. Information is available in written and video form to support parents on a range of topics from pregnancy right through to adolescence.
The Essential Parent library includes information on a range of topics, for example:
- Pregnancy and birth
- Caring for your newborn baby
- Support with toilet training
- Preparing your child for school
- Understanding children’s behaviour
Professionals can send you information directly to your phone, computer or tablet with a click of a button, or you can self-register at Essential Parent Registration (external link).
Healthy Start Voucher and Vitamin Scheme
Good nutrition and a healthy, well-balanced diet are important during pregnancy and in the early years of a child’s life. It not only provides young children with all the vital nutrients they need to grow and develop properly, but it also lays down the foundations of healthy eating habits for later life.
The Healthy Start Scheme is a NHS scheme that helps people who are pregnant or have young children and are in receipt of benefits, to buy certain types of milk, first infant formula and fruit and vegetables.
The benefit is per child not per household and money is added to a Prepaid Mastercard, this is automatically topped up every four weeks.
If you are more than 10 weeks pregnant or have at least one child under 4 years old you may be eligible for the Healthy Start Voucher scheme. You can check your eligibility and apply online at Healthy Start Scheme (external link).
Free Healthy Start Vitamins are available for all pregnant women and children up to the age of 5 years across Wigan. You can collect these from your local Family Hub, or from your Health Visitor.
You can find your nearest Family Hub at Family Hubs locations.
Oral health professional training
We have created a digital training video to provide some understanding of the current picture of children’s oral health across Wigan. This can be used to help you to promote good oral health for the children that you are working with.