News / Petition to reinstate baby massage class
A PETITION has been launched calling on NHS Shetland to reinstate a baby massage group that has been “invaluable to hundreds of parents from all over Shetland”.
The popular class came to an end last week and the local health board confirmed it had decided to stop running the classes.
Thirty four year old mother Becky Robertson, who lives in Tingwall, said the classes were “often the first time that mums get themselves and their babies up and dressed and out the house in the mornings”.
She said it was also often the first time mothers breastfed in public, dressed and undressed their babies and changed nappies with other people around.
“All of these things are milestones in a mum’s life, and this class offers a non-judgemental and supportive environment to take these leaps,” she said.
“It is also a vital tool for health visitors to reach those mums who may not be on the radar. Those battling with PND [post-natal depression], those struggling to function, those in physical pain who haven’t been to their GP. Those who need a bit of early intervention before things escalate.”
The baby massage class was the first thing she took her baby son Mason, who is now five and a half months old, to.
So far Becky’s petition has been signed by 126 people since it was launched on Sunday night.
NHS Shetland’s director of nursing and acute services Kathleen Carolan said: “The health visitors have reviewed their caseload and are prioritising activities which support the new health visiting pathway.
“In order to provide time for more early assessments and supporting children and families at home, they have decided to stop running the baby massage classes.
“The health visitors are very willing to look at alternatives including developing volunteer support for baby massage classes and signposting people to the resources that are available on the internet. If anyone is interested in looking at this with the health visiting service in more detail then please contact shet-hb.information@nhs.net”.
Becky responded that the volunteer option sounded like a good solution, but she feared “the cost of training volunteers and producing the necessary paperwork, procedures and insurance would make it difficult to support”.
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