Key findings

Key findings from Before We Are Born

Our families are increasingly diverse. They are very different from those of previous generations.

We visit the children and their parents around every three years to gather vital information to build a picture of what it's like to be a child growing up in the complex world of 21st Century New Zealand.

Parental relationships and home environments

• Mothers and fathers are having children later - the average age is 30.
• Children live in a range of family structures. Many are living in extended family environments, or with adults they are not related to.
• One in three children have at least one parent who did not grow up in New Zealand and who is multilingual.
• Only one in 20 parents speak Te Reo Māori.

Household

• 40% of children are born into families living in our most deprived areas.
• Almost half of all families were living in rental accommodation when their child was born.
• Families are highly mobile and more than half of families have moved more than twice in the past five years.
• Both mothers and partners would like to take more leave around the time baby is born.
• Many parents in the most deprived areas were not aware of government support programmes.
• The majority of pregnancies were planned (60%).
• More than half of the children in the cohort have older siblings.
• Families are more likely to have two or three children rather than 4 or more.

During pregnancy

• During pregnancy most mothers were able to find a Lead Maternity Carer and few had problems registering with their first choice of maternity carer.
• Not all mothers follow all the guidelines around pregnancy, especially with respect to food and drink. In particular:
• More than 90% of mothers made changes to their diet in pregnancy, most frequently avoiding alcohol, caffeine and raw or highly processed foods. However, a considerable number continued to eat these items and consume alcohol in pregnancy.
• Mothers who reported their pregnancies were unplanned were less likely to take folate in the first trimester than mothers with a planned pregnancy. However, 16% of all mothers did not take folate at any time before or during their pregnancy.
• Despite a reduction in smoking rates overall during pregnancy, around 10% of mothers continued to smoke.  These mothers were more likely to be Māori and live in the more deprived areas.
• Mothers who were physically active prior to pregnancy were most likely to continue to exercise throughout pregnancy.  However, mothers who were not physically active prior to pregnancy were unlikely to take up exercise at any time during their pregnancy.

Key findings from Now We Are Born

This report introduced the children in the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort for the first time.

The babies were born between 3 March 2009 and 14 May 2010. More than three-quarters were born in Auckland, Middlemore, or Waikato hospitals.

The cohort was made up of 6662 singletons, 89 pairs of twins and two sets of triplets. The sex ratio was 52% male and 48% female.

Nearly one in four (25%) babies were delivered by caesarean section.

Early infant feeding

• The vast majority of the Growing Up in New Zealand babies were breastfed for at least some time.  
• The study found exclusive breastfeeding generally stopped at around four months.
• By nine months of age, the babies had been introduced to a wide range of solid foods, most commonly baby rice, fruit and vegetables.
• Plunket was the most commonly reported source of information about infant diet and nutrition for mothers.

Household

• When their babies were nine months old, 54% of the families were living in their own house, with 39% living in a private rental, and 7% in public rental accommodation.
• On average, families experienced a drop in income after the birth of baby.
• An unexpected finding was the nearly one-in-five families were receiving income from four or more sources.

Immunisation and health status

• Nearly all babies had received their six week (95%) and three month (94%) immunisations. However, coverage dropped to 90% for the five month immunisations.
• Most mothers reported that their babies were either in excellent or very good health at the age of nine months
• Almost 91% of the cohort children received all of their Well Child/Tamariki Ora checks in their first nine months.
• When primary health care was required, most babies were taken to either a single known doctor (67%) or to one of several doctors at one practice (27%).

Parental health status and health-related behaviour

• Around 11% of mothers had symptoms suggestive of postnatal depression compared to 16% of mothers who had symptoms suggestive of depression in late pregnancy.
• Being a young mother or having high levels of financial or relationship stress increased the chances of a mother having poorer mental health postnatally
• New Zealand European mothers were more likely to be drinking alcohol than mothers of any other ethnicity.
• Almost one in three of the cohort children were living in a household where someone smoked cigarettes.

Family stability and family environments

• Around 90% of children had parents who were in a stable relationship over the past 12 months.
• Mothers under the age of 20, those without secondary school qualifications, and those living in the most deprived areas were most likely to have experienced a change in their relationship status.
• Around one quarter of the cohort were growing up in an extended family situation and one in 12 children were being brought up by a mother without a current partner.

Parental work and leave

• More than 80% of mothers in paid employment while pregnant, took some form of leave. The leave taken by mothers was most likely to be a combination of paid parental leave (87%), unpaid parental leave (55%) and annual leave (34%).
• Around 30% were still on leave when their babies were nine months old.
• More than 2000 of the mothers had returned to work by the time their children were nine months old, with the majority (83%) returning to work for their previous employer.
  
  

Childcare

• Returning to work or study was the main reason for cohort children being looked after by someone other than their parents (an average of 20 hours per week) at nine months of age.
• Of those in childcare for more than eight hours per week, 40% (685) used an early child care centre such as daycare, Kohanga Reo, or Pacific Islands early childhood centre, 32% were being looked after by their grandparents, and a further 6% were with another relative.

Key findings from Now We Are Two

The personalities and skills of New Zealand two-year-olds

• One-quarter of the Growing Up in New Zealand children are identified as Māori, 20% as Pacific, and one in 6 as Asian. Multiple ethnicities are also very common (almost half of the children).
• Two-thirds of the children knew they were a boy or a girl, and the same proportion used their own name or expressed their independence by typically saying 'do it myself'.
• Tantrums were the norm for children at two years, with four out of five often expressing themselves this way.
• Bananas were the most common favourite food; and saying 'mum', 'mummy' or 'mama' was the most common first word.
• More than 40% (around 2,500) of our children understand two or more languages.
• Te reo Māori was understood by 12% of children in the cohort.
• Around 80% of the cohort watched TV or DVDs daily, a greater proportion than the 66% who had books read to them every day.
• One in seven had already used a laptop or kids computer system.

Health and safety

• 86% of children were described as in very good or excellent health.
• 92% of children were fully immunised at two years of age.
• Just under half of the cohort had had an ear infection and 14% a skin infection since they were nine months old; tummy bugs and chest infections were also common at this age.
• 10% of children had been told by a doctor that they had an allergy of some kind, with egg and dairy being the most common allergens.
• Working smoke alarms were only present in 79% of the children's homes and 38% of children were living in a house without a fully fenced off driveway.
• Just under one-third of children had had a significant accident requiring medical help.
• One-fifth of children had experienced at least one hospital stay by the time they were two years old.

Households

• 69% were living in a household with two parents present (and no other adults, but possibly other children), and 20% were living in an extended family household (including one or two parents).
• Around 6% were living in a household with their parent(s) and non-kin (such as flatmates).  About 5% were living with a single parent (without other adults, but possibly with other children).
• Of those living with extended family: Approximately 43% were Pacific, 27% Asian, 27% Māori, and 14% were European.
• Just over half (55%) of the children lived in family-owned accommodation. The remaining 45% lived in rented accommodation, the majority of which (86%) was private rental accommodation.
• There were high levels of mobility, with around one-third of families having moved house since their child was nine months.
• While they were recruited from the Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waikato District Health Board regions, the Growing Up in New Zealand children are now living from Kaitaia to Bluff, and many overseas.

Employment and childcare

• Half of the mums of the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort were not in paid work when their children were two, but almost all of the fathers were in paid work at this stage. On average, the mothers in paid work were working 29 hours per week.
• More than half of the children were in regular early childhood education and care, predominantly because of the work and study commitments of their parents but also because their parents were interested in the positive impact that this education may have on the social and language development of their children.
• 56% of children were being looked after regularly each week by someone other than their parents. This had increased from the 35% of children in regular formal or informal early childhood education and care at nine months of age.
• The average length of time that two year olds were spending in their main child-care type was 24 hours per week. The average cost of childcare per week was $160 (median $144). A childcare subsidy was knowingly received by 879 families (23% of the families using childcare).

Key findings from Residential Mobility Report 1:
Moving house in the first 1000 days

This report highlights the diverse and complex nature of residential mobility in New Zealand.

This report shows that residential mobility is an important feature of life for pre-school New Zealanders and as such it will continue to play an important part in future analyses.

• Moving house is a frequent event in the lives of New Zealand families.
• Residential mobility during the first two years is associated with parental demographics, employment, housing tenure and structure, and neighbourhood level characteristics for New Zealand children.
• Families living in private rental accommodation are the most likely to move in this early period of life. Improving the security of housing tenure in New Zealand, particularly in the private rental market, may protect families from undesired moves.
• In the first 1000 days of life, residential mobility is higher for those cohort children who are first children, and those children who are living in less traditional household structure types (with their parent(s) as well as additional adults such as extended family members or non-kin).
• Those children who had parents whose partnership ended, or whose households moved to a lower household income were more likely to have moved.
• Those children in families who increased their income during the second year of a child’s life, or who had experienced a change in partner status, were more likely to have moved during that time period than those children in families whose household income had not changed.

Key findings from the 'Vulnerability and Resilience' series

These two reports explored aspects of vulnerability and resilience within the context of our unique population and the New Zealand environment.

Now We are Four: Describing the Pre-School Years

This report provides an overview of more than 4,000 fathers, stepfathers, adoptive and foster parents, co-mums, grandparents and other family members who are “dads” to Growing Up in New Zealand children.

Who Are Today's Dads?

This report provided insight into the health, wellbeing, social and emotional status of New Zealand four-year-olds.  It also looked at changes in the children’s home environment, participation in early childhood education, household mobility, socio-economic situation.

Transition to School

This report focuses on children’s experience of embarking on formal schooling.