Help to navigate the early years

For parents to be, new parents or parents of older kids, the HSE has a website that acts as a one-stop-shop for all manner of information relating to parents and children.

mychild.ie contains information and advice on pregnancy and the first first years of a child’s life. The site was created after research with parents and parents-to-be across Ireland.

It was designed for parents after consultation with parents. The site was created in late 2018 after over 4,000 parents took part in an online public survey. 20 per cent of the respondents were expecting a baby and face-to-face research was also carried out.

These parents included those at different stages of pregnancy and parenthood.

Parents who took part include those:

• affected by homelessness

• asylum seekers

• teenage and young parents

• the Traveller community

Their views influenced the content and design of the website and the new series of books by the HSE: ‘My Pregnancy’ and ‘My Child books’.

The site is designed to be easy to use particularly for mobile phones, which 60 per cent to 65 per cent of people use to read HSE content.

Expert advice

Healthcare professionals wrote the content for the website, ensuring that the information is as up to date and correct as possible.

The professionals include:

• doctors

• nurses

• midwives

• psychologists

• parenting experts

• dieticians

The HSE say that each article will be reviewed at least once every two years. They are open to feedback too so if you have a suggestion or feedback, you can click the button at the bottom of any page or email digital@hse.ie.

The website was made possible by a partnership and grant funding from the Atlantic Philanthropies. This enabled the Nurture Programme: Infant Health and Wellbeing to be established. It is a three-year programme. It is improving information and supports for parents during pregnancy and the first three years of their child's life.

The Nurture Programme is a partnership between:

• the HSE

• the Atlantic Philanthropies

• the Katharine Howard Foundation

• the Centre for Effective Services

The Nurture Programme is a quality improvement programme for the National Healthy Childhood Programme.

See my child.ie to check out all the resources and content available.