Keeping Kids Healthy

Information about keeping your child healthy and safe right from birth through the teenage years.

Doctor examining young boy with a stethoscope

Principles guiding provision of health and disability services

Introduction to principles guiding provision of health and disability services
Principle 1: Children's and young people's needs come first
Principle 2: Holistic approach
Principle 3: Family-centred care
Principle 4: Māori health
Principle 5: Culturally safe practice
Principle 6: Admission to hospital only when necessary
Principle 7: Children and young people need information
Principle 8: Families need to be informed about their child or young person's healthcare
Principle 9: Protection from distressing sights, sounds, activities and experiences
Principle 10: Accommodation, facilities and equipment
Principle 11: Knowledge and skills
Principle 12: Play, recreation and education
Principle 13: Continuity and coordination between and within services
Principle 14: Create long-term support systems centred on the individual
A group of 6 children of different ages sitting on or standing on the back of an outdooor bench

Children and young people's rights

Children's rights in healthcare
Young people's rights in healthcare
Health and disability services consumers' rights
Father reading to his son

Speech and language

Communication: What's involved?
Hearing and communication
Communication development: By 1 year
Communication development: By 18 months
Communication development: By 2 years
Communication development: By 3 years
Communication development: By 4 years
Communication development: By 5 years
Speech sound development
Communication and early literacy skills
Stuttering
Voice
Communication development: References
Concerned about your child's communication or speech development?
Mother with her 2 young children in the garden

Learning and development

How children learn
Play and your child's development
Early childhood education
Concerned about your child's development?
Father playing soccer with his son

Growth and activity

Being active: 0-5 years
Weight: A parent's guide
Being active: 5-12 years
A pregnant mother lying on her bed. Her young child is looking on as the lead maternity carer examines the mother's tummy

Health and support services

Financial help for raising a family
Health services for your child
Health system in New Zealand
Pregnancy, childbirth and the first weeks
Your child's doctor and practice nurse
Support groups for new parents
Well Child nurse sitting on a couch with a family (mother, father, baby and young child) during a home visit

Well Child care

Your child's doctor and practice nurse
Well Child Tamariki Ora Programme
B4 School Check
Mother on phone in kitchen holding her baby in her arms

Phone help

Medical emergencies - dialling 111 in New Zealand
Healthline 0800 611 116
PlunketLine 0800 933 922
Helplines in New Zealand
A vision hearing technician testing a young girl with headphones on

Hearing and vision

Hearing problems in children
Hearing and vision checks for preschool children
Vision problems in children
Baby's eyes
Hearing and vision checks for babies
Hearing and vision checks for school-age children
a mother and her newborn

Newborn screening

Newborn metabolic screening
Mother breastfeeding her baby in the kitchen

Breastfeeding

Best food for your baby
Health benefits of breastfeeding
Preparing to breastfeed before birth
Skin to skin and breastfeeding
First breastfeed
A good latch key to successful breastfeeding
Hunger cues for breastfeeding
Getting breastfeeding established
Is baby getting enough breast milk?
Expressing breast milk
Storing breast milk

Formula feeding

Understanding feeding choice before birth
Skin to skin contact important
What equipment do I need for making formula?
What formula to choose?
Washing and sterilising formula equipment
How to make baby's formula
How much formula does baby need?
How to position for feeding
Hunger cues for formula feeding
Is baby getting enough formula?
Mother with her baby on her lap, giving her baby a spoon of pureed baby food

Starting solids

Starting solids: Key messages
Best drinks for your baby
What foods when starting solids?
What food at around 6 months?
What food from 7-8 months?
What food from 8-12 months?
Keeping baby safe when eating
A family eating together at the table

Healthy eating habits

Healthy eating habits: Key messages
Help your baby enjoy food
Let your baby choose how much
Follow a regular meal and snack schedule
Eat together as a family when you can
A good role model
Two mothers preparing baby food together in the kitchen

Meal planning

Time saving tips
Tips for preparing meat
A great way to stock up!
Father and teenage daughter looking and laughing at something on a mobile phone

Parenting teens

Parenting teens: Introduction
Parenting teens: The teenage brain
Parenting teens: Sleep needs in teenagers
Parenting teens: Spending quality time together
Parenting teens: Boundaries
Parenting teens: Relationships with your teenager
Parenting teens: Role model
Parenting teens: Know what your young people are up to
Parenting teens: Communication
Parenting teens: Alcohol facts
Parenting teens: Alcohol guidelines
Parenting teens: Alcohol and young people
Parenting teens: Drugs
Parenting teens: Parties
Parenting teens: When things go wrong
Self harm
A mother kissing her young son while father and daughter play in the background

Parenting babies and children

Parenting: Your baby's first year
Parenting: The first 6 weeks
Parenting: 6 weeks to 6 months
Parenting: 6 to 12 months
Parenting: 1 to 2 years
Parenting: 2 to 3 years
Parenting: 3 to 5 years
Parenting: The first 5 years
Parenting: Children's voices
Attachment
Crying: What to do
Foreskin care
Safe sleep for your baby
Boy on his computer with father sitting next to him and looking on

Television and media

The internet, communication and media
Father fastening his baby son in to a car seat

Injury prevention

Bunk beds - tips for safe use
Burns prevention - practical tips
Button batteries
Car safety for school age children
Child restraints (car seats)
Driveway injury prevention
Home safety - room by room
Paracetamol - what if my child has too much?
Poisoning - what to do
Safety around glass and sharp things
Scooter safety
Water safety
Mother holding her baby who is receiving a vaccination from a doctor

Immunisation

Immunisation overview
Human papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation
Human papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation (videos)
Flu immunisation
Measles immunisation
Mumps immunisation
Rotavirus immunisation
Whooping cough immunisation
Whooping cough videos
Young girl brushing her teeth with another child brushing teeth in the backgroud

Teeth

Dental care for your child
Teeth and teething
Caring for your baby's teeth
Caring for your child's teeth: 1 to 2 years
Caring for your child's teeth: 2 to 3 years
Caring for your preschooler's teeth
Fluoridation for preventing and reducing tooth decay
Child and parent hands together

Child protection

Preventing child abuse
Sexual behaviour in children and young people
Child abuse: Worried about a child?
Sore bottoms in young girls
Family violence
Never ever shake a baby
Child abuse: Directory for information and support
Newborn sleeping baby being held in parent's arms

Preventive newborn treatments

Vitamin K
A mother's pregnant tummy signalling no with her hand to a glass of wine held out for her

Preventable birth defects and disorders

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: Prevention
Young boy crying before bedtime

Sleep problems

Problems getting to sleep
Bedtime resistance
Delayed sleep
Insomnia
Night terrors
Nightmares
Nightmares and night terrors
Night waking problems
Restless Legs Syndrome
Sleep and anxiety
Sleep association
Snoring or noisy breathing
Worried young girl lying in bed awake at night

Tools for managing sleep problems

Bedtime fading for managing sleep problems
Bedtime pass for managing sleep problems
Camping out method for managing sleep problems
Checking method for managing sleep problems
Rewards for managing sleep problems
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)
Melatonin for sleep problems
Overnight oximetry
Polysomnography (sleep study)
Sleep and breathing problems in neuromuscular conditions
Close up of young girl asleep in bed

Normal sleep

Normal sleep patterns
Parenting teens: Sleep needs in teenagers