Construction begins on Ballarat's new early parenting centre in Lucas

Construction has begun on Ballarat's new Early Parenting Centre in Lucas which will offer 10 residential family units and four day-stay places to provide short-term and longer residential stay programs to improve the health, wellbeing and developmental outcomes of children and their parents.

Grampians Health pediatrician Dr Austen Erasmus said the COVID pandemic had "brought to the fore how much parents struggle and need extra help".

He said there was no book for parents on how to handle their children's self-soothing, sleeping and behavioural issues but maternal and child health nurses could help identify those problems early.

"These parents can feel validated, have their questions and needs met and have inpatient and outpatient services available to them in a collaborative effort," Dr Erasmus said.

"Our parents don't have to travel to Melbourne any more ... once this is up and running."

The centre, which Grampians Health will run in conjunction with Melbourne's Queen Elizabeth Centre, is expected to be operational by the end of 2023 and serve the parents of children aged 0 to four from across western Victoria.

The location of the new complex on Fawcett Road in Lucas is in the heart of Ballarat's baby boom.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Ballarat welcomed 1358 babies in 2021 - 10 per cent more than the previous year and the highest number since 2017.

And Alfredton/Lucas was the city's "nappy valley" registering 220 new arrivals, 20 per cent more than in 2020 when 186 babies were born.

Delacombe's 187 tiny new residents was a 28 per cent increase on the previous year, while Ballarat East/Warrenheip families welcomed 119 new babies home in 2021 compared to 97 in 2020.

The annual birth statistics report highlights the added pressure on infrastructure in the city's rapidly expanding growth zones with early learning centres, kindergartens and schools needing to grow to keep pace with the group.

Outside of Ballarat the growth in the youngest residents of various towns and areas also jumped dramatically.

Gordon saw the biggest increase in new babies with 81 bundles of joy born to proud parents - more than 60 per cent higher than the number of births in 2020.

The region taking in Creswick-Daylesford-Ballan also experienced a baby boom with 311 new arrivals in 2021, up 27 per cent from the 245 the previous year.

All these families will be able to access the Early Parenting Centre if they need.

"This is a substantial step forward for pediatric care and parental care," Grampians Health chief executive Dale Fraser said.

"For anyone who has had a child with challenging sleep patterns and so forth this will be welcome relief to their ability to be the best possible parents they can be."

Mr Fraser said Grampians Health had come together as an organisation with a goal to increase localised care, so patients do not have to travel to Melbourne for care or avoid care all together because options don't exist, and the new Early Parenting Centre would be another step to providing that care close to home.

Victorian health minister Mary-Anne Thomas Health said the early parenting centre would help change the early lives of babies, toddlers and their parents.

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"What our early parenting centres do is provide support, advice and overnight stays for families that might be finding it tough with newborn," she said. "If we think about the arrival of a baby in a family, it's the greatest joy so many of us have experienced, but also parents know that babies can be the original disruptors and the arrival of a baby into a family can cause all sorts of disruptions and stresses.

"We know this investment will make a world of difference to the outcomes for these children and their families."

Sleep and settling is one of the biggest challenges facing new parents, with around one in two parents who attend early parenting centres reporting problems with their child's sleep. This can lead to post-natal depression, stress and can affect a child's behavioural, mental and physical development.

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