Healthy kids are the goal of the public health unit

Are you pregnant or do you have children under the age of six?  Do you wonder what services are available to your family that promotes a healthy pregnancy and healthy child development?  The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit has many free services available to families with young children to help you through this exciting and challenging time.

Beginning in pregnancy, join the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit in a series of prenatal classes where you will learn about nutrition, labour and delivery, infant care, safety and breastfeeding. An online class is also available for those that would prefer this method of learning. During pregnancy pregnant women may also be interested in attending Building Healthy Babies which is another prenatal program available in Chatham, Blenheim, Tilbury and Wallaceburg locations. The goal of Building Healthy Babies is to reduce the number of babies born with unhealthy birth weights in our community, promote and support breastfeeding and improve health for mom and baby. The program is able to provide group teaching on pregnancy, nutrition and infant care, grocery gift cards for healthy foods and prenatal vitamin coupons.

Once your baby is born and you have gone home from the hospital, a Public Health Nurse from the health unit will call you to answer questions you may have and offer you a home visit. Families who would like additional support can be linked to a home visiting program called Healthy Babies Healthy Children.

Baby Weigh In and Developmental Clinics are available throughout Chatham-Kent where you can have your baby weighed, measured and have your questions answered by a Public Health Nurse.  These clinics are available at Ontario Early Years Centres.  Lactation consultants are also available to address breastfeeding concerns.

For those times when you just have a question that you need an answer to, the Health Unit also offers an intake line (Monday – Friday excluding holidays) from 8:30 am-4:30 pm.  This is a line parents can call if they have questions about their child or if they need to be linked to other services in the community.

A program called “One Day at a Time” is offered to pregnant and postpartum mothers.  This is a support group for women who are experiencing anxiety and depression during pregnancy or after their baby is born.   1 in 5 women may experience a postpartum mood disorder. The group is here to help.

You can also contact the health unit for information on other available services such monthly car seat clinics and parenting classes.

For more information on the services listed above contact the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit at 519-352-7270 ext. 2903.

There are many services available free of charge in Chatham-Kent that support parents and children and healthy child development. For more information on what is available throughout Chatham-Kent contact Best Start at 1-866-720-7975 or www.ourbeststart.ca.