The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Service works with families to care for babies and young children. It's a free service for all Victorian families.
MCH visits
You will visit MCH nurses at ten key stages of your child's development. The visits focus on child and family wellbeing. Visits happen at:
- home, 2, 4 and 8 weeks
- 4, 8, 12 and 18 months
- 2 and 3.5 years of age.
The service also:
- runs first time parent groups to help parents who have had their first child
- provides support to families who need extra help, like families with babies of low birth weight or families where mental health is an issue.
This extra support is also free and can involve different things like extra home visits from the MCH nurse to help with serious sleep and settling problems.
Your first contact with the MCH service
The hospital must notify your local council that you have given birth and will give them your contact details. This information is passed onto a Maternal and Child Health nurse in your area.
The nurse will contact you within a week after you return home from hospital. They will arrange to visit your home.
The MCH phone app
Download the Maternal and Child Health app to access child health and development information matched to the age of your child at your fingertips! You will also be able to chart your baby’s growth with the interactive growth tracker.
The app is now available in Arabic, Burmese, Chinese (Simplified), Dari, Khmer, Persian, Punjabi Spanish and Vietnamese.
The app will remind you about upcoming MCH appointments and with Nora the virtual MCH nurse on hand to answer your questions, it's just like having an MCH nurse with you 24 hours a day.
Download the
MCH app on Google Play or
MCH app on the App Store
For app support, email MCHApp@edumail.vic.gov.au
How to contact us
During your first home visit the nurse will give you information about:
- upcoming consultations
- services
- where your nearest Maternal and Child Health centre is.
To make an appointment with your local Maternal and Child Health Service
contact your local council.
Call the MCH Line
The MCH Line is a free telephone support service for parents to get advice from
a Maternal and Child Health nurse. It is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
You can get advice on things like:
- child health
- nutrition
- breastfeeding
- maternal and family health
- parenting.
You cannot use the line to:
- cancel or change appointments with your local nurse
- get details on when immunisation sessions are held by your local council.
Interpreters and access for deaf callers
The MCH Line can connect culturally and linguistically diverse families to female interpreters from the Translating Interpreter Service. It is also available to hearing or speech impaired callers who have access to the
National Relay Service (NRS).