If you are concerned about any aspect of your child’s development, see your child health nurse or doctor for help without delay.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Every child is an individual. Every child develops at their own pace, usually through the same stages or milestones, and in about the same order.
Children grow and learn continually, but not in a smooth flowing pattern. Sometimes they practise skills for quite a while and seem as if they will never move on. At other times they learn many skills very quickly.
Some children are slower than others (developmentally delayed) but catch up with time. Other children, however, may have an underlying problem that causes their delayed development, and they may not catch up. It is important for these children to get as much treatment (early intervention) as possible. So if you are concerned about any aspect of your child’s development, see your child health nurse or doctor for help without delay. If in doubt, it is better to have your concerns checked than to ‘wait and see’.
Queensland Health has a number of child development fact sheets available on the following website www.health.qld.gov.au/child&youth/factsheets. These fact sheets will provide you with detailed information about child development milestones, how babies and children develop, food and nutrition, play and safety, feeding and introducing solids, and other topics.
Much of this information is also available in the Queensland Health booklet ‘Child Health Information: Your Guide To the First 12 Months’. The booklet is inserted into the Personal Health Record, provided to each mother upon the birth of the baby. The Personal Health Record allows you to record details of your child’s health, growth, development and vaccination history. You should take this record with you when you take your child to immunisation sessions, your doctor or paediatrician, child health nurses, hospital, and to enrol in childcare, pre-school or school.
To get additional health information, or to locate your nearest Child Health Clinic, go to www.health.qld.gov.au/cchs.
Additional Assistance
THE RIVERTON STATEWIDE PROGRAM
The Riverton Early Parenting Centre
The Riverton Early Parenting Centre is a free residential centre that provides a service for families and children from birth to 2 years who are experiencing parenting issues of a more complex nature. The Centre specialises in providing child and family health information, education, strategies and support in a multidisciplinary environment, along with linking families to resources in their community.
Target: Available to all families in Queensland with children 0-2 years of age.
Referral: Specialist Child Health Service Providers, i.e. Child Health Nurse, Paediatrician. Assessment occurs once referral has been received as to eligibility for admission.
Contact: Riverton Early Parenting Centre: (07) 3860 7111
Child Health Line
This is a 24 hour telephone service staffed by Child Health Nurses who can provide families from across Queensland with information about a range of child and youth health issues, describe strategies for intervention and support positive parenting practices. Nurses also provide information about local community services for families.
Contact: Child Health Line: (07) 3862 2333
(outside Brisbane Metropolitan area: 1800 177 279)
13HEALTH (13 43 25 84)
The 13HEALTH line is designed to deal with non-life threatening medical situations; provide callers with preventative health information and advice about referrals to local health care services.
The information above was provided by Queensland Health.
