In a life threatening emergency dial Triple Zero (000)

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The Women, Youth and Children Community Nutrition service provides free nutrition advice for children, young people, pregnant women and women in the first two years after birth.

About this service

Our community dietitians provide advice on:

  • eating for good health
  • fussy eating
  • introducing solids
  • food allergy and intolerance
  • weight management
  • disordered eating, and
  • healthy eating during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Who we care for

Our service is available to women during pregnancy and up to two years after giving birth. We also see children and young people from birth to 25 years of age.

We offer these services free of charge if you have a Medicare Card or an Asylum Seeker Card.

How to access this service

Individual appointments:

You can make an individual appointment to see a dietitian by telephone, telehealth or face-to-face by calling Central Health Intake on (02) 5124 9977.

Fussy Eating in Young Children:

If you have a fussy eater aged 1-6 years in your family, then our online self-directed learning videos about fussy eating in young children may help.

Fussy Eating in Young Children links:

  • Worksheets PDF - to complete while watching.
  • Playlist of videos (Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Summary).
  • Survey link for feedback - to complete when completed all videos or when you no longer plan to view anymore videos. FREE GIFT on completion of the survey!

Relevant resources

We recommend watching these videos in order, as each video builds information on the previous video.

Once the Fussy Eating in Young Children self-directed learning has been completed, and if you still require support from a Dietitian – you can book into our clinics for an individual consultation by calling Community Health Intake (CHI) on (02) 5124 9977.

What to expect

Once we receive your referral you will be offered the first available appointment with a dietitian based on our priority criteria. Your appointment will be confirmed with a text message a few days beforehand.

What to bring to your appointment

  • If the appointment is for your infant or young child, please bring any helpful information from your child’s GP or medical specialist along with their personal health record (Blue Book).
  • If the appointment is for a young person or pregnant or breastfeeding woman, please bring any helpful information from your GP or medical specialist.

Where we’re located

Our clinics are located at:

You can also choose to have your appointment with us by telephone, telehealth (Video call) or face-to-face.

Resources

The following Tuckatalk factsheets are for infants and children up to 12 years of age:

Community services

For information on nutrition support for your community not-for-profit organisation email wyc-nutrition@act.gov.au

Infant feeding guidelines

We encourage you to follow the guidelines below when feeding your infant. These are in line with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and are recommended for all parents and carers.

  • When your infant is ready (around 6 months, but not before 4 months), start to introduce a variety of solid foods while continuing breastfeeding—begin with iron-rich foods
  • All infants should be given allergenic solid foods such as peanut butter, cooked egg, dairy and wheat products in the first year of life—this includes those who are at high risk of an allergy
  • Hydrolysed infant formula is not recommended for the prevention of allergic disease

You can find more information on infant feeding and allergy prevention, as well as introducing solid foods to infants on the ASCIA website.

Information for referrers

Please see Community HealthPathways for detailed referral criteria and information.

Referral options:

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In the case of a life threatening emergency, dial Triple Zero (000).

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Contact us

Switchboard Canberra Hospital
(02) 5124 0000

International callers
+61 (2) 5124 0000

Switchboard North Canberra Hospital
(02) 6201 6111

International callers
+61 (2) 6201 6111

Switchboard other hospitals and services
(02) 5124 0000

International callers
+61 (2) 5124 0000

The switchboard handles all calls to, from and within the hospital 24 hours/seven days a week