Early years

Free childcare

All 3 and 4 year olds are entitled to 15 hours per week of free early education at an eligible early years setting, including nurseries, pre-schools and childminders.

You may be eligible for 30 hours free childcare if you and your partner (if applicable) are in work and earning at least the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage for 16 hours a week.

Some 2-year-olds are also eligible for 15 hours free childcare, for example if you get certain benefits.

For more information and to find out if you’re eligible, visit Informed Families.

Healthy early years London

Healthy Early Years London (HEYL) is an awards scheme funded by the Mayor of London which supports and recognises achievements in child health, wellbeing and education in early years settings. Building on the success of Healthy Schools London, HEYL will help to reduce health inequalities by supporting a healthy start to life across themes that include healthy eating, oral and physical health and early cognitive development.

The scheme has 3 award stages:

• Bronze is awarded to settings that complete the HEYL Bronze Award audit and meet all the criteria. Settings must also meet the Voluntary Food and Drink Guidelines for Early Years Settings in England.
• Silver helps settings focus on one health, wellbeing or education priority based on local priorities or needs.
• Gold requires settings to identify 2 further priorities, one that focuses on the need of a particular child or group of children and one that supports the health, wellbeing or education of all children in the setting.

Please contact your local Healthy Early Years Lead, eyteam@enfield.gov.uk for more information.

Healthy Start

The Healthy Start scheme provides pregnant women and families with children under the age of four with free vitamins and money to spend on fruit, vegetables, pulses and milk.

Who is eligible for Healthy Start vitamins?

You’ll qualify for the Healthy Start scheme if you’re at least 10 weeks pregnant or you have at least one child that’s under 4. In addition, you must be receiving any of the following:

• Child Tax Credit (only if your family’s annual income is £16,190 or less)
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Pension Credit (which includes the child addition)
• Universal Credit (only if your family’s take-home pay is £408 or less per month from employment)

You will also be eligible for Healthy Start if:

• you’re under 18 and pregnant, even if you are not claiming any benefits
• you claim income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and are over 10 weeks pregnant
• you, your partner or your carer get Working Tax Credit run-on only after you have reported you’re working 16 hours or less per week

What do you get?

If you’re eligible, once you’ve successfully signed up, you’ll be sent a Healthy Start card with money on it that you can use in some UK shops. Your money will be added onto this card every 4 weeks.

You can use your card to buy:

• plain liquid cow’s milk
• fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables
• fresh, dried, and tinned pulses
• infant formula milk based on cow’s milk

The amount of money families receive varies according to whether you are pregnant or the age of your children:

• Pregnant women receive £4.25 per week from week 10 of the pregnancy
• Each baby under the age of 1 receives £8.50 per week
• Each child aged over 1 and under 4 years old receives £4.25 per week

There is no limit to the number of children each family can claim for.

You can also use your card to collect:

• Healthy Start vitamins - these support you during pregnancy and breastfeeding
• vitamin drops for babies and young children - these are suitable from birth to 4 years old

You can collect the free vitamins from your health visitor or midwife. For more information about vitamins visit Healthy Start - What you'll get and how to shop.

Good nutrition in pregnancy and early childhood leads to better health but it’s difficult to get all the nutrients and vitamins you need, even if you eat a healthy balanced diet. Health experts recommend Healthy Start vitamins to make sure that you and your children get the important vitamins that you need. Healthy Start vitamins for pregnant women contain the recommended daily dose of folic acid and vitamins C and D, while Healthy Start vitamins for children contain vitamins A, C and D.

How do you sign up?

To sign up for the scheme, visit NHS - Healthy Start. If you are already signed up to the scheme and currently receive paper vouchers, these paper vouchers will stop being issued after March 2022. You will NOT automatically be sent a Healthy Start card even though you are already registered on the scheme. To receive a Healthy Start card you must sign up to the scheme again.

If you’re not a British citizen but your child is, you might be able to get a Healthy Start card depending on your immigration status. To get a Healthy Start card, ask for an application form via email (healthystartclaim@dhsc.gov.uk). Only use this email address if you think you cannot claim public funds because of your immigration status.

If you need support with signing up to the Healthy Start Scheme, you can visit the Community Hub at either Edmonton Green or Enfield Town Library where staff will be able to help you. Alternatively, your local Children’s Centre can support you with signing up. To book an appointment at a Children’s Centre please call 020 8106 9996.

Healthy Start posters

• Healthy Start poster - English (PDF, 1053.17 KB)
• Healthy Start poster - Somali (PDF, 556.17 KB)
• Healthy Start poster - Albanian (PDF, 556.88 KB)
• Healthy Start poster - Bulgarian (PDF, 560.49 KB)
• Healthy Start poster - Turkish (PDF, 557.79 KB)
• Healthy Start poster - Bengali (PDF, 604.69 KB)
• Healthy Start poster - Polish (PDF, 558.42 KB)

HENRY - Health, exercise, nutrition for the really young

Everyone wants the best for their children, but it can be hard to know what to do as a parent, especially in the early years. That’s where HENRY comes in.

The Healthy Families Right from the Start programme aims to support families to give their child the best possible start in life by providing tools and skills needed for a healthy happy lifestyle.

The programme covers parenting confidence, family lifestyle habits, what we eat, physical activity and enjoying life as a family. It takes place over 8 weeks and provides everything families need to help get their little one(s) off to a great start.

Weekly sessions

• Week 1: Decide what changes you want to make and set your own goals
• Week 2: How to juggle life with young children so you all get what you need
• Week 3: How to respond to children’s needs without giving in to all of their demands
• Week 4: Positive mealtime tips for a happy family – reducing mealtime stress for everyone
• Week 5: Ideas for active play to help children learn, develop and stay stay happy
• Week 6: Food groups, food labels, portion sizes for under 5s, first foods and snack swaps
• Week 7: Understanding and managing your child’s behaviour for a happier home
• Week 8: Celebrate your success as a parent and plan the future for your family

If you are a parent/carer with children aged 0 to 5 years living in Enfield, you can join HENRY for free.

To book onto the Healthy Families Right from the Start programme in Enfield please email henry@enfield.gov.uk or call 020 3855 5856.

Oral health

Keeping your mouth healthy from an early age is important, as it allows you to keep your teeth and have nice-smelling breath.

The causes of tooth decay

• Tooth location - decay frequently occurs in the back teeth (molars and premolars). This is because they have grooves and pits which collect food particles and are harder to keep clean than the front smoother teeth.
• Foods and drinks that cling to your teeth longer, like milk, honey, ice cream, sugar and unhealthy food in general
• Frequent snacking, including fizzy drinks
• Feeding children at bedtime, inadequate brushing and not getting enough fluoride from their toothpaste.

Making sure you and your family have healthy teeth

• Cleaning your teeth well will reduce the chances of tooth decay, cavities and other mouth issues
• Regular visits to your dentist are essential
• To prevent tooth decay in children 0-6 years, breastfeed babies up to 6 months and wean them on sugar free food
• Parents should help with tooth brushing as soon as teeth start growing. Use only a smear of tooth paste (pea-sized) amount.
• Children should eat a well-balanced diet with a controlled amount of sugar

Local services in Enfield

• The distribution of Brushing for Life pack to each child’s first contact, explaining and demonstrating the importance and benefits of fluoride, healthy eating and good teeth brushing techniques
• Dental fun days - workshops and one-to-ones, demonstrations and displays with oral health messages and support
• The Parent Dental Advocates programme, which gives groups of interested parents the skills to pass on oral health messages through peer to peer learning
• Fluoride varnishing programme in schools

Advice and referrals

• The Oral Health Promotion team accepts referrals from multidisciplinary care agencies and clients themselves. This includes Early Years Practitioners, health visitors, children’s centre staff, Home Start and ETAAP staff. Contact 020 8370 2514 to make referral.

Useful external contacts

• NHS Choices

Parenting

Having a baby is one of the most significant life events. It is often a source of great happiness but can sometimes be difficult. You might find pregnancy, giving birth and caring for your baby more difficult than expected. Maybe you’re feeling low, depressed or more worried than usual. You might be worrying that you aren’t bonding with your baby or that your difficulties are affecting your relationship with your baby.

If you are feeling any these things, Enfield Parent Infant Partnership (EPIP) might be able to offer you the right kind of help and support. You can also talk to your health visitor about EPIP.

EPEC

Empowering Parents Empowering Communities (EPEC) is a parenting course led by local parents. Our parent leaders have completed accredited training and are best placed to support the needs of their local communities.

EPEC offers parenting support that improves:

• children’s social, emotional and behavioural development
• children’s readiness for school and learning
• parenting, parent confidence and well-being
• family communication, interaction, routines and resilience

If you would like to find out more about EPEC, how to become a parent leader or find out if you’re eligible to attend the course contact megan.leese@enfield.gov.uk.