Baby Steps is a holistic perinatal education programme designed to help prepare people for becoming parents.
It provides tailored to support expectant parents dealing with additional challenges, stresses and disadvantages. It can also be delivered as a universal programme for all expectant parents, regardless of whether it is their first pregnancy.
Baby Steps is a free, friendly group that empowers parents-to-be, builds their confidence and helps them feel ready for the arrival of their new baby.
From building stronger relationships to learning important parenting skills, Baby Steps looks at all the joys and challenges of becoming a parent.
It is designed to help prepare people for becoming parents, not just for the birth itself. There are six antenatal sessions, three postnatal sessions and a one-to-one session with a Baby Steps practitioner.
We tailor each session to meet the needs of the parents in the group, but they typically cover:
We also cover a range of topics and exercises that will help new parents feel more prepared for welcoming a new baby.
This short film lets parents know what to expect from Baby Steps.
Baby Steps is available to all expectant parents, regardless of whether or not it is their first pregnancy. We acknowledge that each family and their pregnancy is unique, with its own journey and transition.
Expecting a baby can bring up a lot of different feelings for new parents. That can be especially true if they’re facing other challenges, such as having:
Having someone who can support and understand them can really parents.
For any enquiries on delivering the service or to find out if Baby Steps is delivered in your area please email babysteps@nspcc.org.uk. Please refrain from sharing personal, confidential or sensitive information to this general email address.
Pregnancy and the first few months of life are crucially important for families. For babies, this is a time of incredible growth, shaping their development and wellbeing (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2004; O’Donnell et al, 2014; Talge et al, 2007).
For parents, this period brings physical and emotional changes as well as shifts in roles, responsibilities and relationship dynamics. (Condon et al, 2004; Evardsson et al, 2011).
Building strong relationships from the start helps create healthy, strong families (Teubert and Pinquart, 2010).
Parents can feel vulnerable during pregnancy but also motivated to make positive changes. They often want to be good parents and give their baby a better life, making pregnancy a good time for professionals to connect with them (Darwin et al, 2021).
Baby Steps aims to support expectant parents to manage these changes by building stronger relationships and developing their parenting skills.
The original Baby Steps model has been evaluated several times and the findings include:
Read the evaluation reports on our Library catalogue:
> Implementation evaluation
> The first year of the service: parents' perspectives
> In a prison context: parents' perspectives
> Perspectives of parents from minoritised ethnic communities
> Pre- and post-measures study: quantitative evaluation
The Baby Steps programme underwent a redevelopment in 2024-2025 to ensure it continued to meet the evolving needs and experiences of parents.
The redeveloped programme is now being piloted with 3 NSPCC hubs and 5 external partner sites. These partners are taking part in a feasibility study to:
Andersen, S.L. (2003) Trajectories of brain development: Point of vulnerability or window of opportunity? Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 27(1–2), 3-18.
BMC Public Health (2025) Giving offspring a healthy start: parents' experiences of health promotion and lifestyle change during pregnancy and early parenthood. [Accessed 05/12/2025].
Condon, J.T., Boyce, P. and Corkindale, C.J. (2004) The first-time fathers study: a prospective study of the mental health and wellbeing of men during the transition to parenthood. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 38, 56-64.
Darwin, Z., et al (2021) Assessing the mental health of fathers, other co-parents, and partners in the perinatal period: mixed methods evidence synthesis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 585479.
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2004) Young children develop in an environment of relationships. Working Paper No. 1. [Accessed 05/12/2025].
O’Donnell, K.J., et al (2014) The persisting effect of maternal mood in pregnancy on childhood psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 26, 393-403.
Talge, N. M., Neal, C. and Glover, V. (2007) Antenatal maternal stress and long-term effects on child neurodevelopment: how and why? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48, 245-261.
Teubert, D. and Pinquart, M. (2010) The association between coparenting and child adjustment: A meta-analysis. Parenting: Science and Practice, 10, 286-330.