INFANT is an evidenced-based program designed to help parents and families with healthy eating and active play from the start of their baby’s life.
INFANT in a nutshell
INFANT consists of four face-to face group sessions for first-time parents led by a Maternal and Child Health Nurse (MCHN), Dietitian or other early years practitioner, with content reinforced via the My Baby Now app for parents. INFANT is designed to promote healthy eating, increase active play and reduce screen time for infants from birth until 18 months of age.
- Option: Review the INFANT Facilitator Manual including parent handouts – the manual can also be found in ‘course materials’ in the facilitator’s section of the INFANT website.
We know from our research and talking with INFANT practitioners and parents that there are several core components that are responsible for the effectiveness of INFANT – diagram below:
In brief, INFANT is:
- a scalable, evidence-based program with more than ten years of research.
- Option: Review the INFANT randomised control trial and other evidence that shows INFANT helps children and parents.
- a low cost, universal intervention that enhances existing MCH services.
- consistent with policy frameworks and systems in early childhood health and wellbeing.
- Option: Review links with existing frameworks such as the Victorian Public Health and Wellbeing Plan here.
New Australian policy frameworks relevant to INFANT
- NEW: Victorian Government’s Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures plan.
- Victorian Government’s five-year action plan to support children and young people to be health active and well.
- INFANT is recognised as a key action for Priority 3: “Helping first-time parents access the best possible advice and tips on healthy eating and active play for a healthy, happy baby though community and maternal and child health services via the INFANT program.” Source: Dept of Health, Healthy Kids Healthy Futures plan, p24.
- NEW: National Obesity Strategy 2022-2032.
- 10-year framework for action plan to create supportive environments, empower people to stay healthy and enable access to early intervention and primary health care. Excerpt shown below:
Diagram: The National Obesity Strategy 2022 – 2032
Source: Appendix 3, Commonwealth of Australia (2022). The National Obesity Strategy 2022-2032. Health Ministers Meeting.
- Option: Read about other new national policies and strategies that are relevant to INFANT including:
- National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Early Childhood Strategy 2021.
- National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Plan 2021.
Your task
Submit a comment to share how you have used any of these existing policies to support INFANT implementation in your area in the Comments section below. Are there any other policies or strategies that fit with your local INFANT program to support the health and wellbeing of new families?
Read through the comments from others and responses from the INFANT team for further ideas. Click the ‘mark complete’ button once you’re ready, then select ‘next lesson’ for the next step.
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We are trying to link Infant with the Municiple Health and Wellbeing Plan.
I am interested to read more of the Healthy Kids Healthy Futures Plan
We have always promoted the messages to support the policies. However, Infant ties messages together better and it is important we are delivering consistent evidence based information. We have started to incorporate into the NPG. Promotion of the APP has been well also been well received and I like that it is so accessible for families.
Bayside CC has been successfully implementing INFANT sessions as well as using feedback from families and the team to conitnue to meet the needs of our families. Evidence based and consistent eduaction and information giving is the key given the conflicting and sometimes mis-information parents are receiving. Having the App has been very well received by families.
It is evidence based and the my Baby app is excellent for parents. We are still looking at the INFANT implementation across our Council.
the INFANT program ensures participants get consistent information which reduces confusion and the evidence is there to back up the sessions
I would like to be implementing INFANT across out Shire but having trouble getting support for cost of staffing.
The program aligns closely with the Healthy kids healthy futures plan,and more locally aligns with our local councils Municipal Heath and Well being Plan 2021-2025.
We will be implementing it beginning July 1st to achieve these priorities for our local families
As INFANT is evidence based, l have been increasingly sharing the information incidentally with the families l work with throughout the KAS visits. We are now planning to extend our INFANT program throughout our shire to reach all of our families in group settings.
INFANT has been a great inclusion into our Community with its accessibility to many families and not being limited to parents but also others caring for children such as Kinship Carers.
The INFANT sessions at 3 months and now the 6 month have commenced with good turn outs. This evidenced based program is becoming a successful resource for all families both as sessions and within our consults. Providing this information and using AG we are following the Healthy Kids Healthy Future wellbeing plan.
INFANT is included in our LGA MPHWP and we work closely with our partners to deliver the program.
I love that INFANT is evidence based and l have been sharing the information incidentally with the families l work with. We are now planning to offer INFANT to all of our families in group settings.
As an MCH Nurse our core work is a fundamental component of the Healthy Kids Healthy Future wellbeing plan. INFANT assists our work with its evidence based information and therein supports our families and children. It has just started rolling out here in formal groups and has been received positively so hopefully this can continue well into the future.
I’m reassured to read the National Strategies and policies. Let’s hope we see some real action come from them. It’s crucial that we continue to deliver the evidence to parents. Get them thinking about planning ahead for their infant’s health in the antenatal period. I’m too astounded by the statistics of childhood obesity and childhood mental health and I’m equally worried that this information so often falls on deaf ears. Why are we not seeing more messaging about this on mainstream and social media to the target audience? We’ve got to embed the message about lifelong healthy eating and activity and how it strengthens our immune function, now more important than ever. We are delivering the core messages of INFANT indirectly to all the families that come through the service, not just the first time parents that are offered the formal group.
Our MCH program at Bayside is imbedded in our Early years plan. The promotion of a healthy family diet and freshly prepared foods has always been a part of the information given on the introduction of solids at NPG sessions and subsequent consultations. So too has floor play and age appropriate activities. INFANT has provided the opportunity for follow up sessions that re-enforce the message.
The Early Years has long been a focus of our organisations Integrated Health Promotion plan, including INFANT program and breastfeeding promotion. Our organisation is also involved in the local Early Years Collaborative, and this forum has enabled us to promote our INFANT program and have input into the MPHWP and development of a local Early Years online Hub (to be launched next week).
I have delivered the program through our NPG and beyond. Parents are often keen to come back for more. it is useful to use in my everyday practice as Parents often miss out on the group session. The ability to state that it is evidence based often means that it is better received and gives me confidence in promoting it.
INFANT is included in our organisations Health and Wellbeing Plan through the Health Promotion team. The HP team have been invaluable in assisting with the organisation and planning for dietitians to attend and cofacilitate the sessions with the MCHNs.
Whilst I have not yet utilised any of these newer policies in the INFANT program, this updated information provides an opportunity to update my knowledge to add to the information currently shared with parents in both consultations and through facilitating the INAFNT program. Helping parents understand the complexities that can impact healthy lifestyle choices empowers them to make great choices for their children and family.
I offer evidence based information from the initial INFANT program to promote healthy eating, active play and a healthy lifestyle to parents and children to assist with healthy outcomes for all family members. I encourage the use of the MY Baby Now app to my families who all love the information that is offered in the app. Our Council has implemented the infant program for the first time which has been well received although it was not me facilitating but due to funding it may not continue but useful to have the knowledge to pass on to parents in our consultations
INFANT included in MPH&WP
Though the new parent program we are ensuring that we are giving up to date information. The infant program is included in the health plan of the Corangamite Shire .
We have had INFANT included in our Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan and identified each of the partner organisation’s in our LGA that are involved in INFANT. This helps to build capacity and ongoing committment to the program as well as demonstrating the important role MCH have in key planning documents.
Fantastic to have an evidence-based program available for a variety of clinicians to deliver and share the same health message to our first time mothers. As others have mentioned, the information we have learnt through INFANT course, we are able to apply to our every day work/client’s where appropriate.
It is great that INFANT has been included as a priority action in the Healthy Kids Healthy Futures action plan. This gives us the confidence to continue to list INFANT in our Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan.
Providing evidence based information is vital, as said so well already by other participants. With INFANT we can all ensure we are on the same page by providing consistent information.
It is very useful to be able to refer to latest research and evidence in discussion with parents when required. Many parents are not aware that the type and amount of food offered as babies and toddlers as well as play/activity levels can have a lifelong impact on overall health.
Being evidence based is a great foundation
We (MCH) have a responsibility to our families to deliver evidence based information to enable them to make good lifestyle decisions. The obesity statistics are shocking and through programs like INFANT we have a vehicle to promote positive change. Knowledge is power and, we often forget, that the skills for healthy eating, movement and general wellbeing are not innate but need to be learned. The previous comments have all made good points on use of the listed strategies to inform our work and program development. INFANT is one way of addressing the pillars in the Healthy Kids Healthy Futures Action Plan – targeting healthy eating & physical activity along with providing positive social connections.
I readily implement the evidence based information that I have learnt from completing the initial INFANT training in my everyday MCH practice as well as promote the findings when facilitating the INFANT sessions. I think sometimes as a practitioner we don’t always acknowledge the policies that guide our practice but as a group we definitely strive to promote the action plan of Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures.
Healthy kids healthy futures and obesity strategy used to inform our planning.
Its so valuable that this program is evidence based and supported in a wider scale
I have used the Vic Health and Wellbeing Plan and the Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures Plan to inform and support discussions. Councils have been supportive, so we have been fortunate with a smooth implementation.
I love that it is evidence based.
We have used the Council child and youth strategy to support the implementation and support from Council as well as the Municipal health plan. If needed the Healthy Kids Healthy futures Plan will certainly come in handy.
With MCH nurses under pressure and short staffed our best chance of running more INFANT sessions is more funding for Community Health Dietitians or suitable Allied Health staff
I think it is important to let parents know that Infant is evidence based and links into various higher level policies for prevention of obesity and healthy futures because there is a lot of unsubstantiated information that parents do have access to.
INFANT sets families up for the best chance at access by reminding them that they are child’s first teacher and one they will learn so much from not just in eating but also active play, behaviour etc.
By acknowledging that Parents are children’s first and most important teachers, INFANT sets up parents with evidence based knowledge to give their babies the best start in life.
In the Healthy kids, healthy futures plan we are following this priority:
Helping first-time parents access the best possible advice and tips on healthy eating and active play for a healthy, happy baby though community and maternal and child health services via the INFANT program.
We are meeting this target by running sessions in our new parent groups and providing information and anticipatory guidance from the INFANT program.
We have established a Healthy Education Settings Community of Practice to educate our regional health promotion practitioners on new policy frameworks, especially the Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures Action Plan. We have yet to explore a regional approach to the implementation of INFANT but it has been endorsed by Leadership.