New parents are concerned for their babies as there have been significant delays with developmental check-ups.

Usually a public health nurses visits parents in their homes in the weeks and months following the birth, but some say that isn't happening now.

During the pandemic, two in ten babies and young children were not getting home visits.

That has since risen to three in ten across the country.

Support

Jennifer is mother to three-month-old Noah, who she says hasn't been visited at home since birth.

"After you come out of hospital you kind of have a week's worth of lots of support from the midwives and then the public health nurse system kicks in", she said.

"I remember after that week I was told that the developmental checks would be three months, 11 months, two years and then there's some after that as well, all the way up to five."

Missing milestones

Jennifer said that at her son's three month check up the nurse told her that he won't be seen again until he's two years old as those are the check ups currently being prioritised.

"If I had any concerns she said to obviously give them a call, but I was just really shocked by it."

"In the lifetime of a baby, three months and two years is a huge time frame and obviously there's' many milestones that need to be hit."

Jennifer tweeted about her situation and received many responses from people with shared experiences.

"There seems to be this disparity between areas, so it seems to depend on where you live as to whether your child will get all the required checks."

Location

In August, mother-of-two Vicky received a letter from the HSE informing her of the change, which she told Lunchtime Live inspired "shock".

Vicky's area of west Dublin is one of the areas worst affected by the shortages.

"The irony is that at the bottom of this letter it said 'building a better health service'", she said.

"Essentially, it feels like an absolute cop out."

'Vital service'

Vicky's second daughter Riley is almost five months old, having already missed her three month checkup.

Due to COVID-19, other appointments had also been cancelled, which Vicky said was "totally acceptable".

However, she described the home visits as "vital".

Main image shows a couple with a crying baby. Picture by: Chris Rout/Alamy