The £1.3 million project which gave NHS-branded bibs to babies

Clearing out a drawer in the kitchen last night I came across this piece of taxpayer-funded nonsense which we were given when our daughter was born in October.

When the government kept telling us how important it was to protect health budgets, I didn’t realise it meant producing NHS-branded bibs which would struggle to act as a duster.

Why anyone would want to feed their baby in state-sponsored propaganda is beyond me, and without a plastic backing is almost completely useless at stopping clothes underneath getting wet. (Trust me).

And what do you find when you go to babylifecheck.co.uk?

A brightly-coloured survey asking probing questions about how your child is developing, like:

Of course not everyone takes to parenting easily, and needs extra help.

But a few more visits from a midwife or health visitor would be better than handing out branded freebies that no-one will use to promote a website which borders on patronising.

Incidentally, in 2009-10 NHS BabyLife check cost around £1.3 million.