Plunket support huge benefit to mums
My youngest child was born in New Zealand, thousands of miles away from my whanau. Although I already had two other small children, and had worked with babies and young children for years, this newborn period was a little overwhelming – I found myself constantly exhausted, questioning even my most basic of decisions, struggling to breastfeed, and not really knowing how to access support in my local area.
Were it not for friends and the help of my local Plunket clinic, I suspect my tiredness and low-level worries could easily have spiralled into postnatal depression.
This Friday is ‘‘Blue Day’’, an opportunity to raise funds and show support for Plunket. I will be doing my best to celebrate this organisation and join the cause. Plunket have been around for almost 111 years, and see almost 90 per cent of New Zealand babies each year. Although they do receive some funding, they are a charity and as such rely heavily on donations.
The funds they receive go towards providing care and support for babies, young children and their parents across the country. Plunket offers a huge array of services, some of which will vary from region to region, including:
Well baby and child checks
From birth to 5 years old, Plunket nurses can provide ‘‘well child’’ checks for you. This vital service is an opportunity for the nurse to ensure that your child is growing and developing as it should.
They will do basic screening for vision, hearing, speech, social and motor skills as well as checking for any emotional or behavioural concerns. If anything seems out of the ordinary, they will organise a more thorough assessment of the problem – ‘‘early intervention’’ is the key to minimising the impact of any developmental problems, so getting all these checks done early in life is crucial.
These visits are also a chance for you to discuss anything you might not be sure about – I remember having conversations about the best ways to get my baby to sleep longer at night, and what sorts of foods I could introduce when. Questions I am sure I would have asked my mum had she been just around the corner.
The beauty of Plunket checks is that in the first few weeks of life they can be done at home – this is seriously a godsend as getting out of the house can seem an insurmountable task at times in those early days. Later on, Plunket ‘‘clinics’’ are run locally, and are often based in community centres such as creches or maraes, rather than in a traditional health setting.
Support for families
Plunket provide practical support for families in so many ways. From car seat rental, toy libraries, playgroups and ‘‘parent’’ groups, to local ‘‘Family Centres’’ where you can drop in and get extra support around breastfeeding or other baby-related issues.
They also run pregnancy and parenting courses in certain parts of the country, including a course specifically on Parenting through Separation – as many of these services vary depending on the region, it is worth checking out the Plunket website to see what is available near your plunket.org.nz.
Plunketline
This 24/7 helpline has been running since 1994 and is staffed by trained Plunket nurses. They are there to answer your queries about any child or parenting related issue, and can refer to the many other Plunket or allied health services as needed.
I don’t think anyone could debate the invaluable role that Plunket has played in Kiwi family life over the past century and a bit. I will always be grateful for the non-judgmental, kind, timely, knowledgeable support it gave me in those early years of parenting, and I hope you will join me in wearing blue and supporting their fundraising efforts this week.
For more information about Blue Day, visit raiseabundle.org.nz
❚ Dr Cathy Stephenson is a GP and mother of three.