A ground-breaking programme will be piloted in Morpeth to help parents cope with a crying baby.
The Coping With Crying initiative will show parents a powerful film highlighting the dangers of shaking a baby and providing advice about soothing a baby and managing stress.
The film has been produced by the NSPCC and will be shown to parents by community midwives from Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust during home visits.
Trust Head of Midwifery Janice McNichol said: “We fully understand that caring for a new-born baby can be extremely stressful, particularly for new parents, and we are committed to providing the highest quality support to mums and their partners.
“Our community midwives are parents’ first port of call following the birth and offer expert advice on how best to care for their baby. We are always looking at finding new ways of helping to safeguard our most vulnerable patients and have been using the NSPCC’s Handle With Care leaflet for more than a year.
“We are delighted to work in partnership with it on this pilot and provide an additional resource to help parents cope with a crying baby while raising awareness of the potential risks of these situations.”
Concerns about crying babies are one of the most common reasons that parents seek help from professionals. In the worst cases parents can lose their temper and harm their baby and the NSPCC estimates that around 200 babies in the UK a year suffer from serious head injuries as a result of being shaken, hit or thrown.
The film will be piloted in non-hospital settings in 19 areas of the UK.