News

Figtree Private Hospital opens first residential postnatal service in the Illawarra

Mar 01, 2018

Illawarra families seeking assistance with common early parenting difficulties such as feeding and settling, have previously had no choice but to join extensive waitlists for access to specialised residential support. Once accepted to a program, families have often juggled family commitments to travel to Sydney based facilities.

Now, Figtree Private Hospital is pleased to announce the opening of the Illawarra Early Parenting Centre, offering families a convenient and accessible early intervention program designed to address a range of infant concerns. The new service is the first of its kind for the Illawarra region, and the first available in a private hospital in NSW.

The Illawarra Early Parenting Centre caters to families with children aged between two months and two years of age and, depending on the individual requirements of the family, can provide assistance in the form of home visits, access to an educational day program or admission to the hospital’s five night, six day intensive inpatient program. The centre provides education and parenting skills support in the following areas:

• Feeding difficulties
• Infant sleep disorders
• Irritability
• Reflux and colic
• Maternal exhaustion
• Adjusting to parenting

The Illawarra Early Parenting Centre is staffed by an experienced and compassionate team of nurses paediatricians, GPs, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and lactation consultants.

Figtree Private Hospital CEO Paul McKenna, says that the new Illawarra Early Parenting Centre satisfies an overwhelming demand that has been unmet in the region for some time.

“Studies have shown that early childhood concerns, left untreated, can often have long term effects on a child’s heath, well into adolescence. We’ve seen local families wait months to access early intervention programs and in some cases, give up entirely because of the difficulty accessing these programs.

We’re pleased that Figtree Private Hospital can now provide a local alternative to Illawarra families - a high quality, intensive residential support program - that has the potential to improve a family’s wellbeing at their current family stage, and in the future.”