Family Nurse Partnership•Salford City Council

What is the Family Nurse Partnership?

The Family Nurse Partnership works with first time mothers under the age of 20 to help them to explain healthy pregnancy and caring for yourself and your baby. Family nurses are qualified healthcare professionals and provide support through home visits from early pregnancy until your child is two years old.

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.

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How does the service work?

Your family nurse will share lots of information with you about pregnancy, giving birth and caring for babies and toddlers. During the visits they will help you decide what is best for you and plan for your baby’s arrival and your future as a parent. Many fathers to be also get involved and enjoy preparing for fatherhood. We welcome dads or partners to join in during the home visit if you would like them to.

During pregnancy there is an opportunity to look at your physical and emotional health, including diet, nutrition and lifestyle and making sure that you and your baby have a healthy pregnancy. You will also be able to discuss topics such as parenthood routines, breastfeeding and safe sleeping.

While your child is an infant and toddler your family nurse will continue to work with you to help provide information and support on a number of subjects including your child’s health and development, weaning and nutrition, establishing routines, postnatal depression and family planning. You can also talk about childcare, education, housing, finances and accessing appropriate services.

Our service works closely with a number of other services to ensure you receive the best care and support possible, including:

GPs
midwives and maternity services
community health services
health visitors
specialist nurses
school nurses
Early Help
youth services
young fathers worker
social care
housing services, and many more.

How will it benefit my baby?

You are the most important person in your baby’s life and family nurses will help you make sure that you support your baby to grow, develop and learn.

How to access our service

Salford Family Nurse Partnership
St James’s House
7 Floor Pendleton Way
Salford
M6 5FW

Telephone: 0161 206 0412

Email address: fnp@nca.nhs.uk

Further information and resources

Within this section you will find information and trust approved leaflets - this section is being continuously updated, however, the information which is available here is for guidance purposes and not intended to replace professional clinical advice.

Tops tips for parents

Worried about moving from pregnancy to being a parent? Got questions about dummies and much more? This handy site covers everything from toilet training to dealing with tantrums.

Minor illnesses

Your health visiting team may run a minor illness course where you will be able to learn how to manage your child`s minor illness and where to get additional support if needed, contact your 0-19 team to find out more.

Find your local health visitor:

Central Team, covers central Salford and Broughton
Cluster lead: Phillippa Desveaux
Telephone: 0161 206 6081
Email: Central.0-19@nca.nhs.uk

South Team, covers Eccles, Irlam and Winton
Cluster lead: Helen Carroll
Telephone: 0161 206 3819
Email: South0-19@nca.nhs.uk

West Team, covers Little Hulton, Worsley and Walkden
Cluster lead: Paula Smith
Telephone: 0161 206 2094
Email: West0-19@nca.nhs.uk

North Team, covers Swinton
Cluster lead: Kim Stent
Telephone: 0161 206 7525
Email: North0-19@nca.nhs.uk

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.

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.

Download the understanding your baby factsheet (Adobe PDF format) from the IHV.

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 (Adobe PDF format) 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 (Adobe PDF format) 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.

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, 7 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.

Safe sleep

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

Safer sleep advice for parents from the Lullaby Trust.

Feeding baby at night advice from Salford Royal.

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.

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

Local information

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.

Do you want to give feedback on our service?

Feedback from you is important to us as we value what you say and this can help us to develop our services for you and your child. We routinely ask for feedback from you to see how we are doing, please send us your comments.

Useful websites

Useful apps

Born to move app

Born to move is an NHS app to help parents or carers with their newborn babies right up to pre-school. Born to move is about encouraging daily active play and interaction to help the learning and wiring of your baby’s brain at this critical early stage.

DadPad app

DadPad is the essential guide for new dads developed with the NHS.

Baby Check app

Baby check 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.

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.

This page was last updated on 25 May 2023

Family Nurse Partnership