Should you need urgent health advice please contact your GP or call NHS 111. In an emergency please visit A&E or call 999

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The Building Blocks of Healthy Development

Not all children develop at the same pace. However, there are some milestones you can expect children to meet around roughly the same age.

The Health Visiting Team is best placed to support and allow you to help your child reach their full development potential in readiness for school and can offer support at the earliest stage to try to help your child reach expected developmental milestones.

The Health Visiting Team carry out Developmental Health Reviews for all children aged 9-12 months and 2-2 ½ years. At these reviews your Health Visiting Team will ask and assess how your child is doing and discuss any concerns you may have.

Babies do not come with an instruction booklet. Parent–child interaction can be a significant way to help them learn and develop. All family members can get down on the floor and play! CHAT, PLAY, READ is the key. As parents and carers, it is good to know that babies’ brains begin to develop before birth. The brain acts a sponge, soaking up everything around it creating a foundation to build blocks for their future social and emotional health and development including areas such as:

All parents worry about their child and their development at some point in their life. The most important thing for a parent/carer to do is ask for advice or help as soon as a problem is noticed. For many children, the earlier advice is sought the quicker they can catch up with their peers especially if there is a concern around speech or movement.

For further support and advice please visit:

 

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Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust runs a confidential secure text messaging service for parents of children aged 0-19 years called ChatHealth. The service operates Monday to Friday from 9am to 12pm, excluding bank holidays. All texts will be responded to by a public health nurse (health visitor/school nurse) within 24 hours. Outside of the service working hours, you’ll receive a message back to inform you that your text will be responded to once the line reopens.

Should you require urgent health advice in the meantime, please contact your GP, visit an NHS walk-in centre or call NHS 111. For emergencies, dial 999 or visit A&E.

This page was last reviewed on 20-10-2020

This page will be next reviewed on 20-10-2023