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Childrens health

 

Resources

  • Ultrasound scans during pregnancy
  • Vitamin K does my new baby need it?

See also Breastfeeding

The Centre for Attachment (CFA)

The Centre for Attachment (CFA) is a New Zealand-based agency dedicated to providing support, education and training for families, organisations and communities on optimal child development and attachment.

B4 School Checks

The B4 School Check is a nationwide programme offering a free health and development check for four year olds. Delivery of the Check started in four DHBs (Waikato, Nelson Marlborough, MidCentral and Lakes) in June 2008. The remaining DHBs across the country started delivery of the B4 School Check from September 2008.

The B4 School Check aims to identify and address any health, behavioural, social, or developmental concerns which could affect a child's ability to get the most benefit from school, such as a hearing problem or communication difficulty. It is the eighth core contact of the Well Child Tamariki Ora Schedule of services, and replaces the New Entrant Check that was offered in some areas.

For more information, refer to the links below.

Or for more information on the delivery of the B4 School Check in your area, contact your DHB's Key Contacts

 

What people are saying about the B4 School Check

The B4 School Check was trialled in the Whanganui and Counties Manukau DHBs from August to November 2007. The trial services were evaluated by an independent organisation to help fine tune the B4 School Check for introduction around the country in 2008. Parents of children who received the B4 School Check were asked what they thought about the service, and here are some of the results:

  • Nearly all of the parents who participated (98%) indicated that they would recommend the programme to others.
  • 92% reported high levels of satisfaction.
  • Most parents (86%) reported high levels of confidence in the programme.
  • 99% of survey participants felt that their child's check was completed in a culturally appropriate manner.

Plastics and infant feeding

January 2006 Women's Health Update

There is growing concern about the potential health effects of plastics on babies and young children. Plastic products and packaging are everywhere; unfortunately many plastics contain harmful chemicals. Recently the US Public Interest Research Group released a report on the prevalence of toxic chemicals in baby products, "The Right Start: The Need to Eliminate Toxic Chemicals from Baby Products".1 The report found wide spread use of toxic chemicals in nine popular baby products. A 2004 study showed that bispheno-A, a compound found in many types of baby bottles, has the potential to cause structural abnormalities in human cells and inhibits their growth. Read More (pdf)

Lone mothers face money worries and health risks

July 2001 Women's Health Update

Sandra Coney reports on recent research from Otago University which throws new light on lone mothers in New Zealand.

Otago University research fellow Diana Sarfati was moved to look at lone mothers after experiencing three weeks on her own with small children while her partner was away. Her youngest, 12 weeks old, was not sleeping. Sarfati wondered how lone mothers, with fewer material and emotional resources, coped.
Sarfati found that no one else in New Zealand had looked at the health of lone mothers as a central issue, yet it deserved to be. Twenty-seven percent of all families with dependent children in New Zealand are headed by a lone mother. With the focus now on determinants of health, the fact that lone mothers have very low family incomes should make them an important group in developing public policy... Read More

Older fathers put offspring at risk

June 2001 Women's Health Watch

Children fathered by older men may run a much high risk of developing schizophrenia. Researchers say this finding provides evidence that men, like women, have a biological clock when it comes to having children. Researchers at Columbia Uni-versity College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York University School of Medicine and Israel's Ministry of Health say a child's risk of developing schizophrenia increases dramatically and steadily as the age of the father rises. After reviewing the records of more than 87,000 people born in Jerusalem they found men aged 50 years or older ran three times the risk of fathers under 25.

Study leader Dr Dolores Malspina says the findings augment a growing body of evidence of an increased likelihood of health problems for children of older men. The study, published in Archives of General Psychiatry says that as men age, sperm cells can accumulate mutations that can be passed on to offspring.

Other conditions linked to increasing paternal age include prostate cancer, nervous system cancer, the most common type of dwarfism, neurofibromatosis and defects of the eyes, bones, heart and blood vessels.

However the researchers advise men to keep the study in perspective. They say even though children of older fathers have a greater risk of disease, most children are fine.
Ref: Weekend Herald 2001; April 14-15

Parental consent for treatment and staff training in

neonatal intensive care units

October 1999

In July 1999 an Inquiry Team appointed by the Minister of Health reported on their investigations into the provision of chest physiotherapy provided to pre-term babies at National Women's Hospital. The investigation looked at the circumstances around the deaths and brain damage of a number of very small premature babies who received chest physiotherapy as a part of their care in the neonatal intensive care unit. The Inquiry Team was headed by Helen Cull QC.

Although the Cull Report has generated ongoing discussion and criticism, it identified a number of issues to be addressed. Two of the issues related specifically to informed consent matters and are described in the report as lesson Four and lesson Five. Read More

Parents, children and doctors: Who's got it right?

2000

This paper was presented by Sandra Coney, Executive Director, Women's Health Action Trust,
to the 8th Annual Medico-Legal Conference,
held 7 & 8 February 2000 at the Plaza International Hotel, Wellington, New Zealand

It is interesting that the issue of the caregiver who refuses medical treatment for a child has become a key medicolegal focus. From my perspective, having worked at the consumer end for many years, a much greater issue is the failure of health professionals to gain informed consent from parents to medical interventions on children.

The Inquiry into Neonatal Chest Physiotherapy at National Women's Hospital last year showed that informed consent was not generally sought from parents for a wide range of interventions in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It also appeared that NWH was not out of step in its practice with units in other parts of New Zealand. Because of this the Ministry of Health has established a working party to develop guidelines to ensure that practices in NICUs meet the requirements of the Code of Health & Disability Services Consumers' Rights... Read More

Vitamin K for babies still a poser

January 1998 Women's Health Update

Four new papers in the British Medical Journal fail to answer the question of whether the adminstration of intramuscular vitamin K to babies increases the risk of childhood leukaemia. In the early 1990s work at Bristol University raised this possibility and several teams of researchers set out to resolve the controversy.... Read More

Resources

Ultrasound scans during pregnancy

This recently updated pamphlet includes information on what ultrasound is used for, the benefits and ethical and medical concerns, experts' views and useful contact groups Find here

Vitamin K does my new baby need it?

This pamphlet gives information to help you make a decision about whether to give Vitamin K to your new baby. It explains the benefits
and the possible risks. Find here

 

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