Baby Week is back and launched it’s ‘Back to Basics’ theme today 15 th November 2022 at the
Banqueting suite in Civic Hall.
Professionals from maternity, health and early years, met for the first time since before lockdown.
Many people who had formed professional working relationships online were now meeting each
other for the first time face to face. This was a wonderful opportunity to continue lively
conversations and share knowledge around the stalls ranging from Research Midwives, Maternity
Voices Partnerships, Leeds Baby Bank, Leeds Libraries and many more.
The room was set out with chairs and then stalls around the back with half of the Banqueting hall set
out with a photobooth and soft play activities dedicated for children and families to enjoy.
Opening the day was Councillor Fiona Venner Executive Member for Adult and social care and
Health Partnerships. Welcoming us on ‘how we can make Leeds the best city to grow up in’
Founder Lucy Potter talked about the journey of Baby Week over the last 7 years and remembering
the origins of its inspiration taken from a fellowship research project from Semana do Bebe in Brazil.
We had a warm up with Helen from Diddly Oms yoga helping us to stretch and get good blood flow
with balancing yoga exercises.
We listened to developments within the city – Nicola Goldsborough and Sally Hall from Public Health
Leeds City Council with Babies in Leeds: What we know about health needs and the impact of the
pandemic in Leeds and where we stood in relation to the rest of the country.
Georgia Griffiths from Pregnancy Advocacy Service at Women’s Health Matters and Craig Blair senior
practitioner at Barca shared the stage first to present the new and important work of the pregnancy
advocacy service giving that much needed support and advice to women in the city. And Craig spoke
about the social prescribing service offered at Barca.
Then it was time for the Baby Buddy app with Digital Lead Jake Elgood at Best Beginnings and the
success in reaching more families including black and ethnic minority families in Leeds with
collaboration with evidence based learning in Leeds.
Closing remarks were given by long term Baby Week supporter – Cllr Salma Arif Executive Member
for Public Health and Active Lifestyles – Prioritising Health & Wellbeing brought the end of the
presentations to a close.
After which there was still time to network and enjoy the activities by ‘My soft play Party UK’ Diddly
Om’s Baby Yoga taster, Rattle and Hum music taster and Baby Massage taster session. Please see all
the fantastic events lined up over the week!
