By Jade Glen
The Cardinia Shire is experiencing a baby boom.
In March 2017, a bumper crop of 172 babies were born in the Cardinia Shire Council area, exceeding all previous birth records.
The March babies easily outnumber the 140 bubs born in February and the 120 born in both January 2017 and December 2016.
Cardinia Shire Council co-ordinator of Maternal and Child Health co-ordinator Cathy Massoud said the council’s MCHN team was rising to the challenge.
“This recent increase in births has placed significant strain on the workload of council’s Maternal and Child Health Service Team, with the number of consultations and services required also rising,” Ms Massoud said.
“With each new baby born to a family in the shire, our service provides an initial home visit, followed by additional consultations when the baby is aged 2, 4 and 8 weeks, 4, 8, 12, and 18 months, and 2 and 3.5 years.”
“In spite of this increase, the Maternal and Child Health team has worked industriously to accommodate the significant increase and the additional demands on the service for March and into April.”
We asked on Facebook for the experiences of local March mums.
“Our baby girl was born in March, and we didn’t see the MCHN until just before three weeks old. First time bubby, so wouldn’t know if that’s the normal time or not! We will be attending mothers group for the first time at eight weeks old,” Narelle said.
“My son was born in March! Didn’t have to wait longer for a MCHN appointment, but couldn’t change any of the times I had been pre-booked for as there were no spaces!” Lauren said.
One thing’s for sure – mums of March babies will certainly have a big pool of potential playmates.
