Having a baby

While babies are (mostly) adorable, bringing a new human into the world can be tough. Even if you’ve done it before, each pregnancy, birth and baby can present its own challenges.

Help is at hand in the form of our New Families Program*, which includes:

• online antenatal and early parenting courses
• telephone support from an Early Parenting Consultant
• welcome pack when you join the program for the first time. 

The program is delivered by Healthcare Services in tandem with our partner Ternity Group.

The first step is a phone call from the Healthcare Services team to get all relevant referrals and checks in place for you. Ternity Group will then be in touch to provide you access to the program.

There are three components:

Online courses

Your subscription to the Nourish Learning Hub enables you to do short online courses whenever and wherever you like. This can be handy if it’s difficult for you to get to scheduled antenatal classes.

The courses on the hub cover:

• • pregnancy health
  • labour
  • birth
  • breastfeeding
  • parenthood
  • infant and toddler sleep and settling.

You can also do a confidential online emotional health screening to help you understand how you’re coping and if you could use extra help.

Telephone support

The New Families Program also includes personalised advice on sleep, settling and breastfeeding from an Early Parenting Consultant.

The Safe Sleep Space approach is about getting to know your baby and responding to their cues. They focus on establishing and maintaining good sleep patterns without resorting to controlled crying (yours or baby’s).

Many participants find these pre-arranged phone sessions hugely helpful. Which is understandable given how emotionally charged sleep and breastfeeding can be for new parents.

Welcome pack

The New Families Program is open to eligible members* who are expecting a baby (at least 14 weeks along in the pregnancy) or have a baby under three months old. The program is available to either one or both parents, and to first time parents or parents of more than one child.

*To be eligible for this program you must be a member of UniHealth and have Hospital cover (excluding StarterPak and Mid Classic) with all relevant waiting periods served. Additional eligibility criteria may apply.

This program is brought to members through Teachers Healthcare Services ('Healthcare Services'), an initiative of Teachers Health, to support members’ health and wellbeing through quality, evidence-based health management. Eligible members are connected with a dedicated Healthcare Services care coordinator who supports them along the way.