Your baby's care - measuring standards and improving neonatal care

'Your baby's care' is our parent and carer guide to the summary report of the National Neonatal Audit Programme (NNAP) on 2021 data.

NNAP data helps neonatal units to give better care to babies. We assess whether babies have had the health checks recommended for them to reduce the risk of complications, and we check how well babies are doing following this care.
Photo of mum holding her baby in a neonatal unit, with quote: "Sienna was 3 days old when I held her for the first time. I couldn't give her a proper cuddle because she was receiving treatment, but it meant the world to me that I was able to be involved in her care." Emily, mother
Photo of Sienna courtesy of Emily Fennah

Your baby's care is available in English and Welsh and you can download both versions below.

About one in eleven babies will need to be admitted to a neonatal unit because they are born prematurely, have a low a birth weight or have a medical condition that needs specialist treatment.

The NNAP assesses whether these babies receive consistent high quality care in relation to the NNAP audit measures that are aligned to a set of professionally agreed guidelines and standards.

The photos and quotes in Your baby's care were sent by families who entered our photo competition. We'd like to say a huge thank you to all those who shared their experiences of neonatal care and beautiful images with us!

You can find out more about how we use information about babies experiencing neonatal care and their mothers on our privacy notice page