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Help and support with the cost of living

Health visiting service: contact at 6 to 8 weeks

From 1 October 2026, your child’s Health Visiting and School Nursing service will be provided by Locala Community Partnerships, rather than Northern Care Alliance. NCA will continue to provide the service until 30 September 2026.

While the organisation providing the service is changing, this will not affect the support available to you. Any appointments already arranged will continue as planned unless a member of the team contacts you directly.

To contact Locala:

When your baby is between 6 and 8 weeks old, a health visitor from our 0-19 team will visit you to discuss your baby’s health, development, feeding, and sleeping patterns, or anything else that you may have questions about.

If you have any concerns about your child’s progress, or if your child has any specific health or development needs, further support and advice will be given. Please contact your 0-19 team.

You may be asked to complete an ages and stages questionnaire about your child`s development.

The questionnaire is designed to help you think about the stage your child is at and what you can do to help their development. Additional support will be given by the 0-19 or Early Help service, dependent on needs identified.

You may find it helpful to chat with other new parents to share your experiences of getting used to being a parent. Meet other parents and carers in your area.

You can also visit your local Healthy Child Clinic.

Information you will receive

Your health visitor will provide you with a variety of useful links to websites including the Essential Parent app at each stage of your baby’s development, such as:

  • Bookstart pack

  • Toddling into trouble leaflet (RoSPA)

  • Top tips for tiny teeth

  • Local Family Hub Centre programme

Information and resources

Feeding your baby

Whether you're breast or bottle feeding, here is some handy information to help you. See the feeding your baby section of the Salford Royal website. Breastfeeding in Salford is another great resource.

You can also read about Vitamin D, and the Healthy Start Programme and why it is important and who needs to take supplements.

Healthy Start gives you and your family the best start in life.

Attachment and bonding

Institute of Health Visiting (IHV) have produced some information about getting to know your baby.

The NSPCC have produced a guide: Handle with care – Keeping your baby safe (Adobe PDF format).

Emotional mental health

Maternal mental ill health can seem a complex and daunting prospect but it is far more common than you may think with every 1 in 10 new mothers experiencing some form of depression or anxiety.  

Research is now showing that parental depression and anxiety can have a long term impact on a child’s emotional wellbeing, however the good news is that these affects can be overcome with good support. Don’t forget that you can always talk to your health visitor about how you are feeling.  If your child is under 1 year, your health visitor will be able to offer additional listening visits to help support you and your baby.

Emotional health and wellbeing for mothers

Download the understanding your mental health and emotional wellbeing factsheet from the IHV.

Emotional health and wellbeing for fathers

Being a new dad can be a roller-coaster of emotions. Some men say that seeing their baby being born was the most fantastic thing in their life whilst others may say it was the worse experience ever!!

Download the understanding your emotional health and wellbeing factsheet for fathers from the IHV

Everybody is different and will react to parenthood in many different ways. If you are ever concerned about your own mental health or that of your partner contact your 0-19 team .For useful and practical information for dads why not download the dadpad app - a must have for new dads.

Dad Matters exists to support dads to have the best possible relationship with their children. We work closely with other professionals within Salford to better support dads in the first 1001 days of their parenting journey.

Crying baby

It is normal for a baby to cry, but how do you cope when the crying never seems to stop?

You can talk to a friend, your health visitor or GP, or contact the Cry-sis helpline on 08451 228 669, open 9am to 10pm, seven days a week. You'll be charged for your call.

Cry-sis can put you in touch with other parents who have been in the same situation.

ICON is a programme aimed at helping parents and carers with young babies to cope with infant crying. Read the ICON leaflet (Adobe PDF format).

Safe sleep

As well as putting baby down to sleep on their back, how else can you encourage safer sleep?

Immunisations and vaccinations

Are you wondering which vaccinations your child needs and when they should have them? You'll find more information about vaccinations on the NHS website.

NHS factsheets

Infant development

ERIC's guide to potty training.

Taking care of children`s teeth, advice from the NHS.

Concerned about your child’s speech? Visit Speak up Salford for lots of helpful advice and resources.

Top tips for talking from the National Literacy Trust.

Reading with your baby from the Book Trust.

Visit the hungry little minds campaign for simple fun activities for children aged 0 to 5.

See how to reduce unintentional injuries in children under 5 years from the IHV.

The Baby Check App - The Lullaby Trust

The Baby Check App features 19 simple checks that parents can do if their baby is showing signs of illness. Each check tests for a different symptom and when completed a score is calculated that tells parents or carers how ill their baby is. The app then lets parents know whether their baby needs to see a doctor or a health professional.

Downloadable documents

If you are unable to view documents of these types, our downloads page provides links to viewing software.

This page was last updated on 25 May 2023

Your 0-19 Service (health visiting and school nursing)

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