No one wants to see my baby: Challenges to building back better for babies (8 November 2021)

Summary

This report by Best Beginnings, Home-Start UK and the Parent-Infant Foundation highlights the impact Covid-19 and measures introduced to control its spread have had on babies. It highlights a “baby blindspot” in Covid-19 recovery efforts and a shortage of funding for voluntary sector organisations and core services like health visiting to offer the level of support required to meet families’ needs.

The authors of the report spoke to mothers of babies born during the pandemic and surveyed professionals and volunteers who work with babies and their families.

Content

Key findings

• Many parents in our sample reported that young children seem to be adapting well.
• Families are still feeling the benefits of time together
• The pandemic is still affecting parents' mental health
• Families are not able to access all the support they need from health visiting services and GPs
• Digital support has an important role to play but there are limitations of online and phone-based service delivery
• Parents are struggling to access baby and toddler groups

Call to action

1. The UK Government must support local authorities to invest in and rebuild health visiting services.
2. Babies and the services that support them must be included in Covid-19 recovery policy and investment at a national and local level. This must include investment in community and voluntary sector support.
3. An evidence-based approach must be taken to ensure the appropriate use of digital and phone-based service delivery, and investment in relational, face-to-face support where this is needed.