Your First Contact with the Service
The hospital is required to notify your local council that you have given birth and will give them your contact details. This information is then passed onto a Maternal and Child Health nurse in your area.
The Maternal and Child Health nurse will make contact with you within a few days of your arrival home from hospital. This contact will be to arrange a visit to your home.
During your home visit, the Maternal and Child Health nurse will give you information about upcoming consultations and services, where your nearest centre is, and how to contact the Maternal and Child Health line - a 24-hour, 7 day a week telephone service available to families with children, from birth to school age, throughout Victoria.
All Maternal and Child Health consultations are free.
Following the birth of your baby the hospital will give you your child's My Health and Development Record. This record is designed so that you can keep all your child's health, growth and development information, doctors and Maternal and Child Health appointments and immunisation records in one place.
More information
- Your Maternal and Child Health Service Visits - detailed information about each of your child's 10 Key Ages and Stages consultations.
- My Health and Development Record - a child health record is given to families in hospital when their baby is born and is designed for them to record important information about their child's health, development and immunisations.
- Find an Early Childhood Service or School - search for your closest Service wherever you are in Victoria.