We are pleased to announce that Helen Daly has joined the Best Beginnings team as Project Coordinator and will be working closely with Julie Watson, our Professional Lead, in supporting the effective delivery of Best Beginnings projects. We have been busy attending a variety of conferences across the UK and in just one week we have had a presence at four national conferences, bringing together health professionals, academics and many different organisations. Julie Watson presented to a multi disciplinary audience at Public Health England’s first Annual Conference on the topic of maternal health and our work to address Health Inequalities in the UK.  Looking ahead, we are presenting and exhibiting at numerous conferences such as UNICEF’s Baby Friendly Initiative Annual Conference.

Small Wonders Change Programme

Thanks to funding from the Northern Ireland Public Health Agency we are rolling Small Wonders out to hospitals across the country where we now have a network of 15 Small Wonders Champions and with funding from the Scottish Government, Best Beginnings is working with the three neonatal managed clinical networks to distribute Small Wonders.

We have had fantastic feedback on the DVDs and we are working hard to secure funding for a second years’ supply. If your stocks are running low and you would like to buy one or two months supply to keep you going, please let us know.

Phone Apps for Mums

Best Beginnings free phone apps for mums and mums-to-be, Bump Buddy and Baby Buddy, are still in development with the launch planned for early 2014. In July we filmed a focus group about the apps with some young mums in London and the feedback was incredibly positive.  You can watch the video on our homepage. 

We are delighted to announce that the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland has awarded Best Beginnings a grant to support the launch of the mothers’ apps next spring. We are also applying for further funding for the national launch and evaluation of the mothers apps,  as well as to develop, launch and test phone apps for dads.

If you would like more information about any of our projects, please contact [email protected]