Welcome to the new Family Connect website

Family Connect is a free, confidential service providing, impartial advice, information, guidance and support on a full range of children's services available across the borough including childcare, activities, school admissions and finance.

Family Connect aims to ensure that families are getting the right help at the right time.

Babies, children and families

Pregnancy and baby guide 

 

A picture of a pregnant mom sitting with her daughter
Whether you need advice on:

 

  • getting pregnant
  • pregnancy
  • labour and birth
  • newborns, babies or toddlers
NHS Choices have provided an extensive pregnancy and baby guide, find out EVERYTHING you need to know about caring for your baby.

Visit NHS Choices - your pregnancy and baby guide

Parenting support and advice

Health visitors

 

A picture of three babies crawling
The Health Visiting Service is a universal service with every child/family having access to a health visitor.

 

Health visitors are qualified nurses who have undertaken further training in all areas of child health and development and are skilled practitioners in public health.

Visit Shropshire Community Health NHS website

First Aid

British Red Cross

Parents and carers: help is at hand. If your child chokes on a sweet or suffers a nasty cut, you'll only be a few clicks away from knowing exactly what to do.

This free app is packed with useful videos, animations and tips. It provides simple and easy advice, and each skill only takes minutes to learn. You can test your knowledge using the built in first aid quizzes. There is also a handy device to record your child's medication needs and any allergies.

For more advice and support visit the British Red Cross website or download the app on the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store now!

St John Ambulance 

With St John Ambulance their first aid advice for parents cover a whole range of different conditions and techniques – from knowing how to put a child or infant in the recovery position if they are unresponsive but breathing, to giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if they’re not.

Download the app on the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store now!

Courses

A picture of first aid on a dummy

St Johns Ambulance - first aid

 

Learn simple, life saving skills, taught in line with babies' developmental stages, book a first aid course with St John Ambulance.

British Red Cross - first aid

British Red Cross run first aid courses in many venues across the UK. Visit our first aid training website to book your course securely today.

Birth to 5 timeline

 

A picture of a row of children aging up from babies to toddlers all lined up

NHS Choices have provided an interactive guide to child development from birth to five years old, including videos and advice to help parents along the way.

This is a guide to the milestones in your child's development from birth to five years old. Use it to see when your child may gain certain skills and learn new things.

Visit NHS Choice - birth to 5 interactive guide

Useful apps

 

A picture of a smart phone

Baby Buddy app

 

You can watch videos about breastfeeding, as well as videos about looking after yourself and your baby. It's from the charity Best Beginnings, with input from midwives, health visitors and doctors. Baby Buddy is your personal baby expert who will guide you through your pregnancy and the first six months of your baby's life. She'll give you daily information about you and your baby that's right for your baby's age and tailored just for you.

Download the free Baby Buddy app

Chang4life Sugar Smart app

Our kids might seem fine on the outside, but too much sugar can lead to the build-up of harmful fat on the inside that we can't see. The Sugar Smart app helps you find out how much sugar is in the everyday foods and drinks your family are consuming.

Download the Sugar Smart app

 

Helping a choking child

Dealing with cuts/grazes

Dealing with burns/scalds