Team Appointed to Help Teenage Mums

Child Protection Nurse Advisor Lorraine Newbigging has been appointed to lead a team which has been set up to support teenage Mums in Forth Valley.
The Family Nurse Partnership – a US inspired scheme – aims to help first-time parents aged 19 and under give their babies a “healthier start to life”.

Under the scheme expectant mothers are visited by a specially trained nurse every couple of weeks during pregnancy and throughout the first two years of their baby’s life. The nurses support mothers in areas such as child development, preventative health measures, parenting skills, breastfeeding, and give advice on diet, education and employment.

The programme is the brainchild of Prof David Olds, a professor of paediatrics at the University of Colorado in the US, who found that it improved pre-natal health, increased young mothers’ uptake of employment and resulted in better planning of future pregnancies. According to the Scottish Government it costs around £3,000 per mother per year and the programme typically lasts for 30 months.