Parenting support and resources

This video explains where and how you can get parenting support in your community, including support for looking after babies and raising children. For example, you can get support from specialist sleep and settling services like Tresillian, Australia’s largest child and family health organisation. Tresillian is based in New South Wales, but there are similar services in other states and territories. You can also get support from your child and family health nurse, GP, and extended family and friends.

Narrator: Bringing up a baby is not always easy, and it’s important to realise that you can ask for help. And the great thing is, there’s a lot of help out there – for little or no cost – if you know where to look.

Narrator: For many parents, extended family is the first place to go for help or advice.

Narrator: You may have already consulted a lactation consultant at the hospital or visited your local early childhood health centre or community centre.

Narrator: Your GP is a good first point of call for many health concerns you may have – both for your baby and yourself – and can refer you on to many other services.

Narrator: There are specialist organisations that can give hands-on help if you feel that you’re really struggling with settling and sleeping issues.

Pam McLennan (clinical nurse specialist, Tresillian): This room is typical of most of the rooms. Some of them have a slightly different layout. This room here’s got a double bed, there’s an ensuite bathroom through to the back, which has got a little bath, which can be used for a toddler bath also. And this room here is what we call the baby nursery, and this is where the baby comes to do its little bit of sleeping, and for the first 24 hours the staff are actually doing the settling so the baby is closer to where we can hear it. But then we bring the baby round here, as you can see close to the parent, so the baby and the parent are together, and we can access the nursery easily from the outside and we can also help the parent while they are doing the settling.

Pam: There is also an outdoor area that comes off this main play area. So this is where we encourage the mums and dads to come and pop their little ones down on the floor and do some playtime. This is a really lovely spot, and, um, particularly if the weather’s not too hot, you’ll often find a lot of babies around playtime out here using these ride-on toys. And, as I said, the parents will sometimes bring their meals out here as well. So we have a nursing staff team, which comprises a number of different expertises, and we also have the psychology, social work and psychiatry team.

Onscreen text: Ask your doctor or child and family health nurse for information about your nearest early parenting centre.

Pam: It’s a really easy service to access. It’s available to everybody. There are similar services in other states.

Narrator: Sometimes you just need to share strategies and talk about challenges you are all facing. You can check with the local child health centres to find a local mothers or fathers group. There are also some specialist parents groups out there.

Another great place to get to know some other parents in your area is down at the local playground.

The Raising Children website is also a great source of in-depth information for parents and other carers.

Our content is regularly reviewed for quality and currency. The last review of this video was by Professor Sarah Blunden, clinical psychologist and Director, Paediatric Sleep and Psychology Clinic, Adelaide; Adjunct Professor of Psychology and Paediatric Sleep, CQUniversity; and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University. Scientific Advisory Board review was provided by Associate Professor Jill Sewell AM.

Hatch, B., Galland, B.C., Gray, A.R., Taylor, R.W., Sayers, R., Lawrence, J., & Taylor, B. (2019). Consistent use of bedtime parenting strategies mediates the effects of sleep education on child sleep: Secondary findings from an early-life randomized controlled trial. Pediatric Sleep Health, 5(5), 433-443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2019.03.002.