Complex Infant Needs
5 Talks
Promoting infant health begins in the antenatal period with identification and prevention of conditions through screening and information provision. This boxset discusses a range of conditions impacting infant health considering dignity and compassion in care, lived experience, the management of conditions and support available to families.
Introducing REACH – the Association for Children with Upper Limb Deficiency
2015 | 24 mins | Complex Infant Needs
One child a week is born with an upper limb deficiency, which brings challenges and the need to find solutions to individual needs. REACH assists children to develop, supporting them and their families with a community and role models. In this talk, REACH Ambassador, Frank Letch, demonstrates his unique, self-confessed low-tech strategies and innovative solutions to facilitate daily tasks. Frank discusses the importance of accepting differences and the importance of choice in adaptations. He concludes by encouraging to see the potential in us to ask “what could happen?” within these children’s lives, seeing their potential.
Frank Letch, REACH Ambassador
Down Syndrome – the lived experience
2020 | 15 mins | Complex Infant Needs
90% of those who receive a diagnosis of Down Syndrome prenatally chose to terminate their pregnancy, and continuing with the pregnancy can be viewed negatively. In this talk, Nicola Enoch, founder of Positive about Down Syndrome and a mother with lived experience, discusses the importance of communication when supporting families with a baby with Down Syndrome. She explores how appropriate language can empower and provide confidence to parents, and the need to return to the basics of individualised, respectful care. Nicola concludes by providing information on the networks and resources available to support both families and professionals.
Nicola Enoch, Founder, Positive about Down Syndrome
CMV – A bigger threat much closer to home
2017 | 15 mins | Complex Infant Needs
Listeria? Toxoplasmosis? Is cytomegalovirus (CMV) just another thing to worry about when information overwhelm is prevent in pregnancy? In this talk, Sharon Wood, Project Manager at CMV Action, discusses the impact of CMV in pregnancy and for neonates. Affecting 1000 births a year and the greatest preventable cause of hearing loss, the prevention and management of CMV in pregnancy is discussed. Sharon concludes by highlighting a survey of pregnant women and midwives, and the actions healthcare professionals can take to promote a reduction in CMV perinatally.
Sharon Wood, Project Manager, CMV Action
Folic Acid: Too little, too late?
2018 | 23 mins | Complex Infant Needs
Helen Allen, Support and Development Worker at charity SHINE, discusses spina bifida, hydrocephalus and anencephaly. These neural tube defects impact 1 in 1000 pregnancies. Helen explores the anatomy, physiology and impact of these conditions, and how Roald Dahl contributed to advances in treatment. She goes on to consider the ‘fight for fortification’ to promote pre-conception folic acid intake, and the challenges of preventative management in unplanned pregnancy.
Helen Allen, Support and Development Worker, SHINE
Supporting families affected by hydrocephalus through pregnancy and diagnosis
2023 | 19 mins | Complex Infant Needs
Harry’s Hat aims to raise awareness of paediatric hydrocephalus, a lifelong condition affecting 1:770 births. In this talk, Caroline Coates, Founder of Harry’s Hydrocephalus Awareness Trust (Harry’s Hat), discusses the symptoms, identification and treatment of hydrocephalus, key to reducing brain damage in infants. Caroline highlights the importance of head circumference measurements across the first year in identification, promoted through their ‘Get-A-Head’ campaign. The presentation concludes with service-user, Vicky, sharing her lived experience of hydrocephalus.
Caroline Coates, Founder, Harry’s Hydrocephalus Awareness Trust (Harry’s Hat)
