A new event helping Scunthorpe parents prepare for the birth of their baby has been declared a success.
Couples turned out in force at Scunthorpe General’s first ‘Nest and Nurture’ event following the launch of the new evening events to support new families at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby in October.
Now, maternity teams will evaluate both events with a view to launching a full monthly programme from February.
Yvonne McGrath, Director of Midwifery at NHS Humber Health Partnership, said: “We’re really pleased so many people came along to the two events and we’ll now look at the feedback to see what services we can offer them from next year.
“Our midwifery teams already run Carousel at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital so it’s great that we can offer a similar service to parents living on the South Bank.”
Community midwives, experts in labour and delivery and baby care specialists were at the event at Scunthorpe last Thursday to provide information on a vast range of topics from healthy pregnancies, infant feeding and safer sleeping techniques to keeping active during pregnancy and having a great birth experience.
Teams from North East and North Lincolnshire Councils, Navigo and the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership were also at the event to support essential parenting skills, home safety and looking after wellbeing before and after the baby is born.
Many who attended the event also took up the offer of vaccination to protect their baby from potentially serious illnesses like whooping cough and RSV in the first few months of life and partners were also able to try on a “pregnancy vest” to get a glimpse of what it felt like to be pregnant.
Consultant Midwife Leanne Ellis, who is also a specialist midwife in Perinatal Mental Health, said: “We’d lots of people coming in through the door from the minute the event began at 7pm and lots were still there by the time the event was due to finish at 8.30pm, which told us there was plenty of stalls, teams and information on offer.
“People seemed to really value the opportunity to come along and speak to our midwives and health care experts about everything from induction of labour to home births.”
Plans for future events will be unveiled in the new year.