By Helena Adeloju
March was a bumper month for baby births in Cardinia.
The council’s co-ordinator of Maternal and Child Health Cathy Massoud said the birth rate had set a new record.
“In March 2017, birth rates in Cardinia Shire exceeded previous records with 172 babies born,” she said.
The baby bonanza came after February saw 140 births, up from the 120 births recorded in each of the previous two months of January and December.
“This recent increase in births has placed significant strain on the workload of council’s Maternal and Child Health Service team, with the number of consultations and services required also rising,” Ms Massoud said.
With each new baby born to a family in the shire, the team provides an initial home visit, followed by additional nine consultations up until the child is aged three and a half.
Despite the spike in births in March, Ms Massoud said the service team had coped well and managed to reach all the mothers in the shire.
The council’s Community Planner Megan Gill said one likely factor that contributed to the increased birth rates in Cardinia Shire was the population growth it was experiencing.
“An average of five families are moving into the shire each day,” she said.
“That’s an average of 35 new families moving into the shire per week.”
