Of the 6846 babies in the study, 184 are twins or triplets.
Source: Growing Up in New Zealand
There was a huge range of birth weights, ranging from about 600 grams to nearly 6000 grams.
Source: Growing Up in New Zealand
The first solid food most frequently give to the babies was baby rice, followed soon after by fruit and vegetables.
Source: Growing Up in New Zealand
One third of the study babies are expected to identify with more than one ethnicity.
Source: Growing Up in New Zealand
At six weeks, the longest time slept by the Growing Up babies varied from just half an hour to over 12 hours.
Source: Growing Up in New Zealand
At nine months, just over half the babies were crawling at least five metres.
Source: Growing Up in New Zealand
At nine months, a third of the Growing Up babies were shaking their heads to say ‘no’.
Source: Growing Up in New Zealand
A thousand mothers reported that they were speaking some te reo Maori to their babies at nine months.
Source: Growing Up in New Zealand
Welcome to Growing Up in New Zealand
Growing Up in New Zealand is a longitudinal study that
provides an up-to-date, population relevant picture of what it is
like to be a child growing up in New Zealand in the 21st century.
Approximately 7,000 children and their families are taking part in
a study that aims to provide a complete picture of the pathways
that lead to successful and equitable child development, therefore
improving outcomes for all children - now and into the future.
Our Second Report
Our second report, Now we are born, was released on 23 March 2012.
This report is especially exciting because it is the first to
provide a truly longitudinal perspective on the development of our
children, rather than just a cross-sectional snapshot of their
lives. The information is collated from face-to-face interviews and
telephone interviews with the mothers and partners of the Growing
Up in New Zealand children over a 12 month period. It also presents
information about the children's birth and immediate postnatal
period, which has been brought together from multiple routine data
sources to add to the information provided by the parents.
Now we are born provides details about the beginning of the
children's journeys, in the context of their families and their
wider environments. The children are not yet one year old, but
already their developmental pathways are being established. We know
how critical the first 1000 days of life (from the beginning of
pregnancy until two years of age) are for ensuring that all
children have a good start in life and therefore can look forward
to a healthy future. Our second report details how our children are
doing at the halfway point in this important developmental
period.
The information provided in Now we are born represents the
collective voices and stories of the diverse families of the new
generation of children over their first months of life after birth.
We are extremely privileged within Growing Up in New Zealand to be
able to bring those collective voices from the family table to the
policy table.
Study Progress
The two-year data collection wave is approaching completion.
This has been the first time our interviewers have interacted with
the children as part of the data collection, and reports back from
the field and from the parents show that this has been a highlight
of the two-year interviews.
The analysis of the wealth of antenatal data continues and work
is progressing to make the antenatal data available for researchers
to work with. It is expected that a workshop to introduce
researchers to this resource will be held in the second half of
2012. Watch this space for more details.
News
Newsletter Summer 201113th December 2011Growing Up in New Zealand quarterly newsletter.More
Newsletter Spring 201122nd September 2011Latest news from Growing Up in New ZealandMore