Promoting Child Health and Wellbeing: The Blue Book

New parents or caregivers and those from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities may not be familiar with the Blue Book, so spending time explaining the purpose, reviewing the key sections and showing them where to add notes will be mutually beneficial. Some tips to do this are as follows:

• Start by explaining that the Blue Book is a personal health record for their child, designed to track and manage their children’s health and developmental milestones from birth
• Review the key sections with them:
  • Growth and development: Show the sections that track their child’s growth metrics (height, weight and head circumference) as well as the developmental milestones (motor skills, language development)
  • Immunisations: explain the immunisation schedule, why this is important and where this is recorded
  • Health Issues: encourage them to record any health issues or illnesses which may provide insight or be helpful in monitoring patterns over time
• Encourage them to actively engage with the Blue Book, showing them sections where they can complete parent information
• Encourage them to ask questions, highlighting that the Blue Book is a tool designed to make their parenting journey easier.

Parents or caregivers should be encouraged to bring the Blue Book to childhood checks with you and your team from birth to four years of age. Remind them that this can be advantageous should an emergency arise as it provides quick access to important health information.