The 1 year review with your health visitor

Your child will be offered a growth and development review before their first birthday. Here you will find out more about the topics and advice covered at this review.

You may have been asked to fill in two questionnaires about your child’s development. These are called Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) and will focus on your child’s communication, physical, emotional and social development. You know your baby best and will be best placed to answer the questions, but if you are struggling or need further help, your health visitor is there to support you.

For more information about the ASQ’s click here:

Speech and language

Even when your baby is not saying many words, they are constantly learning about communication and getting ready for further speech. Songs, rhymes and books are great tools for learning as well as just talking to your baby about the world around them. You can learn more about speech development here:

  • Start 4 Life: Learning to talk - 1 to 2 years
  • It is never too early to start reading to your baby, this is a great way to strengthen your bond with them. Babies that love books are more likely to grow into children and adults who love books, giving them skills for life, supporting their communication skills, speech development and social interaction. Bookstart aims to encourage the love of books, stories and rhymes in children from as young an age as possible. Further information can be found at:
  • BookTrust: Book Start

Vision and hearing

If you have any concerns about your child’s vision or hearing, or if there is any family history of vision or hearing problems, please talk to your health visitor or GP. Identifying vision and hearing problems early is important to get early support and treatment. For more information please visit: 

Free NHS eye tests are also available at opticians for children under 16. Find out more here:

General development

The Tiny Happy People website has a lot of ideas of activities for you and your baby to promote healthy development:

You can also find more activity ideas here:

Behaviour and normal expectations, routines and boundaries

As your baby moves on to the toddler stages of development, they are likely to become more curious and also more headstrong. Tantrums and expressing their views through shouting and crying, is completely normal and is just their way of communicating with you. They are likely to also be more wary of strangers and clingier to you. It can be useful to start doing your routines and boundaries now to give your child clear messages. The following links may be useful:

At birth your baby has billions of brain cells but not many connections (synapses) between these cells. In your baby’s first years of life, connections develop very quickly. Your love, affection and closeness can help link up the connections. From birth to age two your child will form 700 new connections per second!

Further information can be found at:

For ideas and tips for activities and play ideas to support your baby’s development visit: 

Quality sleep for children promotes healthy growth and development as well as having a positive impact on the whole family. Establishing a good bedtime routine is important to help children to settle and sleep well. Hints and tips for bedtime routines can be found here:

Like adults, all babies have different sleep patterns. Try not to compare your baby’s sleep with other babies that you know. Some babies will be sleeping through the night by this age, but it is completely normal if they are not. Between 12 and 18 months most babies will thrive on 11-14 hours of sleep per day including 1 or 2 daytime naps. By 18 months most children are ready for just one daytime nap (if your baby fights their sleep for their morning nap, it is likely they are ready for one, possibly longer, afternoon nap).

From 6 months of age your baby can move out of your bedroom and into their own room. You can revisit the safe sleep guidance for babies on the New Birth Visit and 6-8 Week Review pages however, once your baby can roll onto their tummy and back again, they will find their own sleep position. Do not feel you have to stay up all night to keep rolling them back onto their backs: 

For further support around sleep and sleep problems visit:

Your health visitor will monitor your baby’s growth and development. They will discuss with you when your baby’s growth needs measuring again. Generally, if your baby is feeding well, weeing and pooing and growing out of their clothes then they do not need routinely weighing after 1 year of age.

If you are ever concerned about your child’s weight then you can contact Derbyshire Family Health Service on 01246 515100 to arrange a health visitor home visit or to book onto one of our bookable clinics. For more information, including how weight is plotted in your red book, please visit:

Hopefully, your baby will now be getting used to more tastes and textures of food. Remember that babies do not need salt or sugar added to their food during or after cooking. Salty food is not good for their kidneys and sugar can cause tooth decay. Sugar easily adds up throughout the day. Here is a handy calculator to see how much may be in snacks and treats:

Start 4 Life has over 120 healthy and easy to prepare recipes and meal ideas:

It is also important to think about portion sizes. For children, the amount that they should eat depends on their size and age. As a rough guide, one portion is the amount that they can fit in the palm of their hand.

Breastfeeding will continue to benefit your baby for as long as you wish to carry on. After 1 year of age your baby will no longer need formula milk and you can start giving them whole or semi-skimmed cow’s milk as a drink:

As your baby takes more solid foods, the amount of milk they will want, and need, will reduce. This is different for all babies and some will stop drinking milk altogether much sooner than others.

Alongside milk you can offer your baby water to drink from 6 months of age. They will likely only have small sips to start with. You can offer water in a cup or beaker from 6 months of age. Baby bottles should be discouraged, even for milk, from 1 year of age as this will be healthier for your baby’s growing teeth:

Toddlers need to be physically active for at least 3 hours per day. Find out more here:

Physical activity ideas can be found here: 

You may have returned to work or be considering returning to work. We understand that finding childcare can be daunting and stressful. You can search for registered childcare in Derbyshire by visiting:

Your child may be eligible for financial support for childcare. For more information visit:

It is important to know your rights in the workplace regarding returning to work and breastfeeding can continue when you return to work. It can be a great way to say hello after a period apart. Did you know that your body will make antibodies to fight any 'bugs' your baby has been in contact with whilst you have been separated?

Your milk production will work very much on supply and demand now so you may find that you don’t feel overly full when apart from your baby. If your baby is taking a varied weaning diet they could breastfeed in the morning and then when you are back together again and have food and water whilst you are apart. On the days you are not at work you can breastfeed as often as you and your baby like. 

Your health visitor can chat to you about creating a return to work plan depending on the age of your baby and your work situation visit:

If you do need to express when you return to work, you can find information around your rights and how employers can support you here:

You can also drop into your local breastfeeding group and chat to other parents to find out about breastfeeding and returning to work here:

Vaccinations are the most effective way to prevent serious, infectious diseases. All babies in the UK are offered routine immunisations to protect you, your child and the wider community from potentially deadly diseases. Your baby will soon be due their 12 month vaccinations:

To learn more about the vaccination schedule, how they work, their safety and any potential side effects please visit the following pages:

For tips on helping yourself and your baby through vaccinations and what to expect after they have been vaccinated visit:

It is important to remember that babies and children benefit from having healthy parents and prioritising your own health and wellbeing is also important. Now is a good time to prioritise yours, and your family’s, health. Health visitors can advise and signpost you to further specialised support regarding wider health including:

  • Physical health problems 
  • Diet, exercise, and nutrition
  • Dental Health 
  • Stopping smoking
  • Substance misuse 

Live Life Better Derbyshire can offer further support through their website or programmes which you can self-refer to or talk to your GP about:

Health visitors will regularly ask about yours and your partner’s emotional wellbeing. Having a baby can have a huge impact on your life and relationship as well as your mental wellbeing. Postnatal depression (depression after having a baby) is common and affects more than 1 in every 10 women. It can also affect partners too. It is important to get support as soon as possible. For more information visit:

Health visitors routinely use assessments tools when considering mental health. All health visitors have completed mandatory training on Emotional Wellbeing Visits (EWV). This new evidence-informed intervention framework guides the mental health support health visitors provide to families. Emotional Wellbeing Visits are a package of care offered by health visitors to mothers at risk of, or experiencing, mental health problems. When support is needed, care is tailored to the unique needs, preferences, and circumstances of individual mothers.

If you feel you are struggling, you can also talk to your GP and referrals to specialist services can be considered. In a mental health crisis, you can call 0800 028 0077. Further mental health support including crisis support can be found on the following pages:

Domestic abuse can happen to anyone, regardless of their circumstances or gender. Your health visitor may ask you questions about your relationship and are there to support you if needed. If you or others are ever in immediate danger, please call 999. If you have any concerns, need support or want to know more information about what domestic abuse is and how to recognise it please visit:

For specific support in Derbyshire, you can visit:

It is important to start caring for your baby’s teeth as soon as they appear. You can brush them straight away with a small smear of fluoride toothpaste (twice a day). For more information and useful tips visit:

First teeth usually appear within the first year, but, when it comes to teething, all babies are different. For more information about what to expect visit: 

For tips on how to manage teething visit: 

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If you are concerned, you can get further support by calling 111.

NHS dental care is available free for children however not all dentists provide free NHS care. You can take your child to the dentist as soon as their first teeth appear. Try to make this positive and fun to prevent the trip to the dentist becoming too worrying for them. To find an NHS dentist near you visit:

Keeping your baby and growing child safe from harm is a priority and health visitors can support you to make sure that you have considered safety factors in your home.

For further information about safety topics please visit:

Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors

We are constantly learning from experience and health visitors will discuss with you specific safety topics relevant to your child’s age to help you create the safest environment for your family. It is important to have working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors and you may be eligible for a Safe and Well Visit from the local fire service. Visit:

Pets

It is important to keep your baby safe around your pets, particularly dogs. Luckily, most dog bites are preventable with close supervision at all times.  You can also start preparing your dog for the baby’s arrival during pregnancy, for more information please look at the following:

Nappy sacks

At least 18 babies in the UK have already died after suffocating or choking on nappy sacks,. Find out the simple changes you can make to reduce the risk to your baby:

Blind cords

Shockingly around 2 children every year are strangled to death after being tangled in a blind cord. This can happen silently and very quickly. For advice on how to ensure your blinds are safe please visit:

Button batteries

Button batteries can badly hurt or even kill a small child if swallowed. For more information look at:

It is your responsibility to ensure that you have a safe and legal car seat for your baby. The following websites can help you understand the law around car seats and help you to choose the correct one for your child:

Babies can become very unwell, very quickly, in hot weather as a result of dehydration, heat exhaustion, heat stroke and sunburn. Try to keep your baby out of direct sunlight as much as possible, use sunscreen and a sunhat. For advice on keeping your baby safe in hot weather visit: 

We understand that the cost-of-living crisis and the current financial situation is putting increasing pressures on families. If you need any support with finances including debt issues, benefits, employment concerns or pay and many other topics you can visit:

Before your child’s next review, they may be ready for toilet training. Most children are ready around the age of 2 years. Some may be ready a little sooner and some a little later. For advice on signs of readiness and how to start please visit:

If you need further support and advice before your next review, please call the health visiting team for support.

If, at your visit, you and your health visitor agree that further support is required, they will arrange a further contact. If you do not require further support, your next visit will take place when your baby is 2-2.5 years of age. Click here if you would like to find out more about this visit:

Please remember that Dads and partners are welcome and encouraged to be present at your visits.

You do not need to wait for your next visit for advice and support. To find out the different ways that you can contact the health visiting team visit our ‘contact us’ page at: