Keeping your child safe and well

Keeping your child safe and well

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Information for helping you keep your child safe and well including: caring for your baby in their first year; preventing injuries; looking after your child's teeth and about your child's learning and development. If you would like telephone advice, you can call PlunketLine on 0800 933 922 for parenting and child health questions for your under five year old.

You can check the complete listing for this section:

Keeping safe and well A-Z

A range of topics from advice on the type of child restraint you may need and where to go for help with correctly fitting it, to ideas about what to do when your baby cries.

Breastfeeding helps lay the foundations of a healthy life for your baby. Breastfeeding is good for your health and wellbeing too. Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended until your baby is ready for and needs extra food - usually around six months of age. Most women can breastfeed but many mothers need help when they begin breastfeeding, especially with a first baby.

Well Child / Tamariki Ora services are offered free to all New Zealand children from birth to five years. They provide support, information, advice, checks and immunisation.

The benefits of immunisation far outweigh the risks. In the past, diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough killed many children. Today, we use vaccines to immunise children against these and other diseases. Immunisation has wiped out some of the killer diseases of childhood in New Zealand but while these diseases still exist in other countries, they are only a plane ride away.

Every year, about 60 babies die suddenly in their sleep. Most deaths are preventable. Safe sleep means face up, face clear, smokefree every time and place a baby sleeps. Sleeping face up (on the back) protects babies through a critical stage of development. A clear face protects babies from suffocation. A smokefree start to life makes babies strong.

PlunketLine is a toll-free telephone advice service available to all families, whānau and caregivers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ring PlunketLine on 0800 933 922 if you have child health and parenting questions for your under five year old. These could include questions about crying, sleeping, your child's growth, development, behaviour, immunisation, breastfeeding, nutrition, oral health or safety.

Information on some of the financial support that may be available to you when raising your family: Paid Parental Leave, Parental Tax Credit, Domestic Help, Community Services Card, Working for Families package and Child Support.

About your child's learning and development, from speech and language development in children to choosing an early childhood education service.

We all have a role to play in making sure our children are safe. Information to help support you to protect our children from abuse.

This section provides information about some common mental health conditions and other emotional and mental wellbeing concerns.

The foreskin is the loose skin that covers and protects the end of the penis. The foreskin and penis of an infant or child need no special care.
Always wash and dry hands before eating or preparing food. Always wash and dry hands after sneezing, coughing or blowing your nose; playing outside; going to the toilet and having contact with animals. Wash hands for 20 seconds and dry hands for 20 seconds.

A section which includes information about the health system; what to do when you need health care and children and young people's rights when receiving health and disability services.

Information about hearing and vision screening for babies, pre-school children and school-age children; the possible signs of a vision or hearing problem and who to see if you are worried.

The media, including the internet, can exert a powerful influence on your child’s health and development. This influence can be both beneficial and harmful.

How to tell whether your child has a healthy weight. Ways to make physical activity part of your children’s lives.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is the term used to describe a range of preventable birth defects and disorders caused when a developing baby is exposed to alcohol before they are born.There is no known safe amount or time to drink alcohol during pregnancy.

Information about how to keep your child safe and reduce the risk of preventable injuries.

Suggestions for helping you look after your child's baby and adult teeth.

Keeping your child safe and well A-Z

The complete listing of topics for this section, organised by title.