Parents could get £1,232 through little-known NHS scheme
Parents are being encouraged to explore a lesser-known NHS scheme. Those with children under four could be eligible for up to £1,232.50 to assist in purchasing fruit, vegetables, milk and infant formula, experts have said.
UK baby brand Nuby is prompting families to check their eligibility for the NHS Healthy Start Scheme, following its survey of 1,000 parents, which revealed that:
37% say buying healthy food is their biggest financial challenge when feeding their child
27% struggle with the cost of providing multiple daily meals
What exactly is the NHS Healthy Start scheme?
The NHS Healthy Start Scheme aids eligible parents in buying essentials like milk, infant formula, fruit and vegetables.
How much can you receive?
£4.25 per week from the 10th week of pregnancy
£8.50 per week for children under one
£4.25 per week for children aged one to four
This totals £1,232.50.
Who is eligible to apply?
You may qualify if you're at least 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under four and you're on Universal Credit or certain other benefits.
Where can it be used?
The funds are loaded onto a Healthy Start card, which can be used at supermarkets, grocery stores, pharmacies, markets, butchers and even some petrol stations - anywhere displaying the Mastercard symbol.
When should you start weaning your baby?
According to the NHS, you should start when your baby is around six months old. By this age, their digestive system is more mature and ready to handle solid foods.
They'll also have developed better fine motor skills, meaning they can grab food and (hopefully) aim for their mouth. Their chewing and swallowing abilities also improve.
How to start weaning your baby and what foods to feed them
The NHS recommends starting with cooked, soft fruits and vegetables, which can be offered as finger foods, mashed or blended. If the fruit is already soft, like a banana, no cooking is required; just mash and serve.
Next up, starchy foods. These can be mashed, cooked to a suitable texture or served as finger foods.
For cereals and porridge, mix with breast milk, formula, or if your baby is over six months, pasteurised whole cow's, goat's or sheep's milk.
From six months, babies also need protein-packed foods, which provide essential nutrients like iron and zinc.
NHS-recommended first foods
Vegetables
Asparagus, avocado, broccoli, butternut squash, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, courgette, green beans, kale, parsnips, peas, peppers, spinach, swede.
Fruit
Apples, bananas, blueberries, kiwi, mango, melon, nectarines, oranges, papaya, peaches, pears, pineapple, plums, raspberries, strawberries.
Starchy foods
Baby rice, bread, chapatti, cornmeal, maize, millet, oatmeal, oats, pasta, pitta bread, porridge, potato, quinoa, rice, sweet potato, toast.
Protein foods
Beans, beef, chicken, eggs (stamped with the British Lion mark), fish (deboned), lamb, lentils, pork, pulses (such as chickpeas), tofu, turkey.
How much solid food should you feed your baby to start with?
There's no rhyme or reason to how much your baby will eat each day. Some days they'll finish their full plate but other days they'll turn their nose up at it all. That's why it's important to keep offering breast milk or formula alongside solid foods.
Four tips to make baby weaning easier
Use silicone moulds or ice cube trays to save freezer space
Forget Tupperware, freeze purées in silicone moulds or ice cube trays instead. Not only does it save space, but you can easily defrost portion-sized cubes as and when you need them.
Make more than you need and freeze it
Batch cooking isn't just for adult meal prep; you can also do it for baby weaning food prep. If you're blending fruit or veggies, make extra and freeze it. You will thank yourself on those hectic days when you feel pushed for time. Plus, it saves money in the long run.
Don't give up after a few tries – it takes at least 10
If your baby refuses to eat a new food, don't give up easily. The NHS says it can take 10 (or more…) tries for babies to get used to new flavours and textures. So, keep offering it and they might just surprise you.
Try a baby suction bowl
Unless you fancy a game of food frisbee, invest in a baby suction bowl. Stick it to their highchair tray and let them dig in without the risk of an impromptu bowl throw.
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2 hours ago
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Helen Swan's voice is quiet yet urgent when she answers the phone at her home in Stonehaven. It doesn't take long to understand why. When we spoke, the 54-year-old mum was just days away from boarding a flight to Frankfurt, where doctors would inject powerful chemotherapy drugs directly into the tumours spreading through her lungs, bones, liver and soft tissues. It's a procedure called TACE — targeted arterial chemoembolisation — and Helen believes it is her only real hope of slowing down her cancer. She knows from experience that as soon as the drugs enter her body, she's in a race against time to get home before the side effects strike: searing nausea, crushing exhaustion and days where she can barely stand. Yet for Helen, the urgency lies not just in the cancer invading her body, but in something else – the knowledge that if she can't keep raising the money to pay for each £6,000 trip herself, her treatment will stop. 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She underwent months of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and internal brachytherapy at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. She was given the all-clear in August 2020. But a year later, a routine scan revealed 16 tiny tumours scattered through her lungs. The cancer had returned and was now classed as incurable. Doctors gave her about six months to live. Offered palliative chemotherapy, Helen made the difficult decision to say no. 'It might have bought me a bit of time,' she says. 'But the side effects would have left me too unwell to do anything with my son. I didn't want to spend what time I had in bed.' Instead, she pieced together her own protocol — researching everything she could about boosting her immune system. She changed her diet, took over-the-counter supplements and began regular mistletoe infusions at Camphill Wellbeing Trust in Aberdeen. Her doctors were sceptical — mistletoe infusions aren't routinely available on the NHS and are classed as complementary. But no one could argue with the result: three extra years of life she was never expected to have. 'I made memories with Harry,' she says of that time. 'I was able to travel with him, swim in the sea at Stonehaven, visit friends in Greece and Sweden — just live a normal life as much as I could.' By the end of last year, Helen's cancer started to spread again — pushing into her bones, liver and soft tissues. She found Professor Thomas Vogl at Frankfurt University Hospital. He specialises in TACE — a procedure only approved on the NHS for patients who have primary liver cancer, not for secondary tumours that have spread from elsewhere. In simple terms, TACE involves feeding a tiny tube through an artery in her leg and injecting a high dose of chemotherapy straight into a tumour. Unlike conventional chemo, which floods the whole body, this targets the tumour directly — cutting off its blood supply and killing cancer cells. 'It's like being poisoned for days,' Helen says. After her first treatment, scans showed a 10% reduction in a tumour pressing on her spine — so severe it had threatened to paralyse her. 'Before I started, I felt like I was hanging on by my fingernails. I was losing the use of my leg and arm. Now, I can walk with a stick. I can drive my car. I can be mum again.' Her most recent scans showed further reductions in both her spine and liver tumours. But every session brings brutal side effects, and the fear that missing just one could undo her progress. A single trip to Frankfurt costs Helen around £5,000 to £6,000, covering the procedure itself, flights, hotel and a companion to help her get home. As a single mum unable to work, she has no savings left. 'It's terrifying to think that if I can't raise this money, I can't go — and I'll start to go downhill again within a few weeks. I don't have time on my side.' So far, generous donations through her GoFundMe page and local fundraising events have covered three trips. She needs many more. How many? 'It's case by case,' she explains. 'Some people go 10 or 12 times if it keeps working.' Through it all, her anchor is her children: Sam, 29, Grace, 22, and especially Harry, still just a boy. 'He was six when I was first diagnosed,' she says. 'He's come along on the ride with me. He knows enough, but not everything. He sees me as strong, and I want to keep it that way for as long as I can.' Helen adds: 'Somebody else asked me that too, and I really, genuinely don't feel angry. I think I'd rather it happened to me than to somebody I love — I'm a strong person. And I hope I'm showing my children, or anyone else, that no matter what life throws at you, you just wade through it and you don't give up.' Helen praises the NHS teams that saved her life in the early days — but says the system is limited by what it can fund. 'Germany is about 10 years ahead of the UK in cancer treatment,' she says. 'It's frustrating that the treatment is there, but we can't access it — you have to go abroad or have the money somehow.' She wants policymakers to listen: 'People shouldn't be written off just because the treatment isn't in the NHS box. Even if they can't fund it, they should support people however they can.' After nearly five years fighting, Helen has learned more than she ever wanted to know about cervical cancer — hers is so rare that it doesn't even show up on standard screening tests. She wants other women to know that even regular screening can sometimes miss it. 'There's no handbook for cancer,' she says. 'You have to advocate for yourself. Learn as much as you can, ask questions, don't take no for an answer. You know your body — listen to it.' Above all, Helen hopes her story shows others they don't have to give up. She tells of one woman who went to Professor Vogl's clinic with just weeks to live — and is now cancer free. It's an outcome Helen would love to see for herself. But she's clearsighted on the obstacles ahead, and how quickly things could change if the money runs out. 'I just want more time — more days to be Harry's mum. I'm not ready to die. I've got far too much to live for.'
