A key strand of Thrive at Five’s work is supporting parents and carers as they build relationships with their children – starting from pregnancy.
Our Stoke-on-Trent team recently trained 13 midwives and health visitors in using the accredited Newborn Behavioural Observations tool. The tool helps parents understand their baby’s cues, behaviours and unique ways of communicating, building confidence and strengthening early attachment.
One health visitor who has already begun using the technique with families, said that it can be easy to only hear what the parents are telling you but “with this, you’re looking at the baby and the baby is telling you.”
The first training course received an enthusiastic response from practitioners with 100% of participants reporting that they expected it to make a ‘significant’ or ‘very significant’ impact on their practice. As practitioners incorporate what they’ve learnt into their interactions with families, ongoing support will help turn this knowledge into improved and strengthened practice across whole teams.
Bringing together community midwives, health visitors and perinatal mental health practitioners is a great example of what can be achieved when partners across the early years system come together around a shared goal. By building knowledge and confidence and relationships across services, we’re helping to create a more connected and responsive support network for babies, parents and carers.
We are anticipating more positive impact and insights to learn from as we roll out the scheme.
Nina Gilbert, our 0-2 Development Lead in Stoke-on-Trent said: “For families, this is about much more than introducing a new tool. It is about creating opportunities for parents to feel seen, supported and confident in their relationship with their baby during one of the most significant transitions in life. We know that early relationships matter, and NBO offers a strengths-based way of supporting those relationships from the very beginning.”