“I have been working with a little girl that we noted at 3.5 years of age that something was not quite right. We want her in 4-year-old kinder next year, and within a couple of weeks, she had an appointment with the By Five Paediatrician and she is now on the NDIS and enrolled in 4-year-old kinder. If we had to wait, we just wouldn’t have had the same results.”

“… being able to have the Maternal Health nurse there for the appointment… I really liked that because she could explain things if I didn’t understand what was going on and she took notes for me, and it just helped having her in on the plan for moving forward as well…. she helped if there was anything that I had forgotten to mention, that I had spoken to her about in the past, she brought that up and also, she had some questions that she asked in regard to my daughter that I might not have thought about so just another brain there I guess to make sure that we covered everything, and everything was well understood.”

“Just the fact that [my local professional] knew [my child’s] background and history from the start from when she was born, it was good having her there because she knew everything that had gone on and could help me explain that to [the paediatrician] and offer suggestions of what we wanted to get out of the consult as well.”

“They really like that they can bring their partner or significant others to the consultation. Or the grandparents. Last week we had a mother with unsettled twins, and she brought the two grandmothers to the co-consultation. They were able to provide their input and the paediatrician was able to ask about their history, whether they had unsettled babies. Their grandmothers couldn’t believe how lucky they were and they really felt as though they were listened to. The paediatrician has the loveliest manner. Having consultations that are 40 minutes is really great too, everyone felt included.”

“With children like him… when we travel to Melbourne and you put… any child that’s got ADHD into a new room you can’t get efficient answers because they’re jumping off the walls and there’s all this new stuff to touch and it can be overwhelming, so for him to be comfortable in his own environment [he gave] his best responses because he wasn’t feeling anxious or overwhelmed.”

“It was a relief having the physiotherapist [attend]. It was good because I was so overwhelmed, she would jump in [with information] I hadn’t brought up or had forgotten about. It wasn’t just them talking to each other about my child, they were including us and my child was able to play and she even talked to the paediatrician on telehealth. It was comfortable and quite relaxing.”

“That calmness has allowed him to regulate his emotions a little bit better because he could not regulate them at all… he’s a lot more accepted amongst his peers and within his classroom which is really great.”

“he is happier … and his confidence is through the roof”

“[I felt] immediate relief there’s not something terribly wrong with my baby.” (Parent)

“The stress was just next level, so to have that conversation, our stress levels decreased and it’s not on our mind every waking moment.”

“I was finding it difficult to describe [to the paediatrician] what I had done. [The MCH nurse] was able to describe much better than me, in a more clinical way”