The Newborn Home Visiting Program
(Article published in HWW July-August 2009)
by Margot Williams, Site Director, NYC Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene
The birth of a child is an important time for new mothers and their families. So in 2004, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) started the Newborn Home Visiting Program (NHVP) to help give infants a healthy start in life.
This free program offers one home visit to all families with a new infant to help them adjust to parenthood, assure that their infants are living in a safe environment, provide health education and referral to community-based services to address health and social issues.
At first, the NHVP was a pilot program in Harlem and Brooklyn, visiting about 100 families each month. In July 2007, the program expanded and now serves neighborhoods in the Health Department’s District Public Health Offices in the South Bronx, East and Central Harlem, and North/Central Brooklyn. The NHVP offers visits to more than 15,000 families each year.
Mothers are either contacted by a Health Department staff member at the hospital soon after delivery or by telephone and mail. The program is entirely voluntary, and most mothers welcome the NHVP staff (who are trained DOHMH community health workers) and agree to accept the visit.
During the visit, the health worker will:
• Arrange for a free crib for any family who needs one
• Provide information on key health topics
– Breastfeeding
– SIDS prevention and “safe sleep”
– Bonding and attachment
– Smoking cessation
– Health insurance and need for primary doctor or clinic (“medical home”)
• Screen for potential health or social problems (e.g. post-partum depression, domestic violence, child developmental delays, housing instability) and refer to specialized providers/agencies as
needed
• Assess the home for the following hazards: peeling lead-based paint, missing or improperly installed window guards, missing smoke and/or carbon monoxide detectors and pest issues. Referrals will be made to appropriate enforcement agency to ensure repairs and fixes are made.
The health worker can also arrange for one of our registered nurses or licensed social workers to visit your home if there is a need. Our health workers speak English, Spanish, Creole and other languages.
Because breastfeeding is the best way to nourish newborns, the NHVP gives early support for mothers to help them start and continue to breastfeed. All breastfeeding mothers will receive telephone follow-up and may be offered a second visit for additional help. NHVP staff also lead breastfeeding support groups, giving breastfeeding mothers opportunities to gather, gain valuable breastfeeding tips and share experiences with one another.
Remember a great way to protect your baby is to keep your little one away from cigarette smoke. If you or anyone you know would like to stop smoking we can get you free Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) or call 311.
The NHVP has always visited mothers who reside in shelters with their infants. Our services will not take the place of services provided by shelter staff, but we will work with shelter staff to get appropriate support for new mothers.
We are currently working with the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) to ensure that all new mothers that need a portable crib receive one for use while in the shelter and to take with them when they depart from the shelter so their newborn will have a safe place to sleep.
If you reside in a shelter, in the South Bronx, East and Central Harlem or East/Central Brooklyn or relocate to housing in these areas you are eligible for a visit. If you are contacted, please let us know that you would like to schedule a visit. If you have not been contacted and would like a visit, please call 311 and ask for the Newborn Home Visiting Program.
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A new mother says this about NHVP:
“She sat down and collected data about my family and any issues that I had. She asked me if I had any questions or concerns. She gave me recommendations about programs that may be beneficial to me. I did not have a crib for my baby and she was able to get one for me. She gave me a nice gift bag that had developmental information and services. She made a phone call and was able to help me out a lot.”
A NHVP Community Health Worker recalls: “I visited a first-time mom who was having trouble breastfeeding. She said that the baby would not take the breast and she was finding feeding painful. She told me she thought that her baby couldn’t latch on because her nipples were too small, so I explained to her that nipple size does not affect a baby’s ability to nurse. When I asked her to demonstrate to me how she breastfeeds her baby, the mother sat at the edge of the bed, hunched over, struggling to get her nipple in the baby’s mouth. The client was in obvious pain, and the baby was struggling to latch on. I showed the client other feeding positions, and the baby was able to latch on and feed for 15 minutes. The client said that she had never breastfed for more that five minutes because of the pain, but now that it felt comfortable, she was determined to continue breastfeeding.”
