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You and Your baby

Welcome to the Down’s Syndrome Association, where you will be able to speak to someone if you have any questions or need support.

Your baby has the same needs as all babies. They will eat, sleep and cry and will need love and cuddles like every other baby.

The most important thing that you need to know about Down’s syndrome is that everyone with the condition is a unique individual. Get to know your baby’s individual personality…take time to listen to your new baby, get to know them and enjoy spending time with them.

A loving secure environment is the most important thing that you can give your baby at this time.

If you have any questions, or are looking for information and support, please call us or contact us by email.

Here are some beautiful babies with their parents…

Meet Lucy and Chester

Meet Mel and Johnny

Meet Nate and his family

Meet Enki, Emily and Matt

Meet Elouise and Lucy

New parent pack

Our New Parents Pack may be able to help you answer your questions and
concerns. It includes information about telling others your feelings, as well as
information about Down’s syndrome, feeding your baby and about your baby’s
development. Your relatives can also find out more in our Friends and Family leaflet.

Call 0333 1212 300 and ask for a pack to be sent to you.

Download leaflets from our New Parents Pack:

New parents can join the Down’s Syndrome Association for free for the first year of their baby’s life. You can find out more about becoming a member of the Down’s Syndrome Association. If you have any questions or would just like to talk, please call our Helpline on 0333 1212 300.

Information, Support and Resources

If you would like to get to know other family’s in your area, you can check to see if there is one of our affiliated local support groups near you.

Our closed Facebook group for parents with children ages birth to 11 years is a great place to connect with other parents. Our Information Officers monitor the group. Where appropriate they will answer questions posted by parents and provide information.

Our online baby and pregnancy support group gives you the opportunity to meet our team and ask questions on any topic, including development, communication and benefits.

The group runs for a series of four fortnightly meetings and is designed to offer support to parents of babies up to 18 months of age as well as expectant parents looking forward to welcoming their new baby.

Our Helpline

We answer questions about Down’s syndrome.

We offer a listening ear.

We provied information and support.

Call 0333 1212 300
(Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm)
email info@downs-syndrome.org.uk

Supporting Early Development: From Birth to 4 years

This 90-minute online workshop for parents and practitioners provides information about how to promote infant development through interaction, play and early learning activities, including learning strengths, speech, language and communication and education.

Visit our Training to find out when the next session is running.

There are many ways for you to help your child’s speech, language and communication development.

We have developed a set of resources, with a Speech and Language Therapist, to help you get started. Click on the link below to find out more.

We want to ensure babies and young children are as healthy as they can be.

The Personal Child Health Record (PCHR) Insert can help. It contains a list of basic minimum health checks for babies and children up to the age of 18 years. It has been written by the UK Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group.

Alongside the list is information about when the different health checks should be carried out.  You can download the list of health checks here. If you feel that your child hasn’t had the right health checks, show the list to your GP, Paediatrician and/or Health Visitor.

The Insert can be downloaded here.

We send a copy of the Insert to new parents who join the DSA (free of charge to parents with a child under 12 months of age).

We can also send a free Insert to anyone who has not received one from their health service, just get in touch with our team here.

If you have any questions about health issues, you can call our Helpline (Tel: 0333 1212 300) or email using info@downs-syndrome.org.uk. If an Information Officer is unable to answer your question, they can make a referral to the medical adviser at the UK Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group (DSMIG).

Please note DSMIG can provide general advice about health issues but they are not able to comment on individual test results. DSMIG are happy to take enquiries from health professionals but they will not take direct from enquiries from families or supporters.

New mums and dads… we want to hear your story

We want to share the joys and the realities of caring for a new baby, and we want to be able to share your stories so that they may be helpful for others. 

We will put these stories on our website and social media, and hope that by sharing them, they will help spread awareness, provide knowledge, and be of interest to other families.  

Photos

We would love to share some of your family photographs alongside your words to make the piece more personal. You can submit photos via our online form, and you must ensure that a separate photo form is completed for each person in the photo. You can fill in the form for under 16s and there is also an Easy Read versionPlease also detail that your photos relates to this story submission. 

The process

Please feel free to write as much as you would like…there is no word limit. We have listed some questions below that may help get you started. You do not have to answer them all and they are just here as a guide.

Questions

  • Family: Tell us about your family life and story in general
  • Baby: Tell us about your new baby. What is his/her name/age? What does he/she like doing? What does he/she not like doing?
  • Siblings: Tell us how he/she gets on with their siblings
  • Achievements: Tell us about your baby’s achievements so far and your proud moments…
  • Challenges: Tell us about any challenges you/your baby have faced
  • Future: Tell us about your hopes for the future and anything else you may wish to talk about

Where to send

Please send your words in an email or a word document to: dsapress.office@downs-syndrome.org.uk

Deadline

There is no deadline… we always love hearing from people and sharing their stories!