NHS and public services
By nation, including the Northern Ireland out-of-hours numbers.
The short version
- There is no 111 service in Northern Ireland. Use your area's GP out-of-hours number, from 6pm weekdays and 24 hours at weekends. 999 for emergencies.
- Health visiting is free for every family with a child aged 0 to 5, and sleep and parental mental health are both within their remit.
- NHS 111 in England is free, 24 hours. Scotland's NHS 24 uses the same number, and 111 Wales is free from landlines and mobiles.
- For a child under five, phone 111 rather than using the online service. Online triage is not built for the youngest children.
- In Scotland, Breathing Space is 0800 83 85 87, 6pm Friday to 6am Monday and 6pm to 2am Monday to Thursday.
The rest of this page explains where this comes from. You do not have to read it tonight.
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NHS and public services where you live
The four UK nations run these services differently, and the differences matter enough that we have separated them out. Northern Ireland in particular does not work the way the rest of the UK does.
England
Health visiting service
Birth to 5 No national number
An NHS service offered to every family with a child aged 0 to 5, at no charge. Sleep and parental mental health are both explicitly within a health visitor's remit, so it is not an imposition to raise either.
There is no national number. You reach your health visiting team through your GP surgery, a child health clinic or a health centre.
The Healthy Child Programme sets five mandated reviews:
- Antenatal contact, from 28 weeks of pregnancy.
- New birth review, 1 to 14 days after birth.
- 6 to 8 week review.
- 12 month review, which can happen any time in a 9 to 15 month window.
- 2 to 2 and a half year review.
If sleep is a problem between those points, you do not have to wait for the next one. Ask for contact.
Registering with a GP
Free
Everyone in England can register with a GP surgery, or change their GP surgery, for free. You do not need ID, proof of address or proof of immigration status. If a receptionist tells you otherwise, that is wrong.
Register your baby early rather than waiting until something is wrong.
NHS 111
Free 24 hours, 7 days
11124 hours a day, 7 days a week
Free from a landline or a mobile.
Important for a child under 5: phone 111 rather than using the online service. The NHS 111 online mental health triage says in its own words to call 111 instead if you need help for a child under 5. Online triage is not built for the youngest children.
NHS Best Start in Life
Website Renamed
The NHS's parenting information hub, previously called Start for Life. It has a baby sleep section covering safer sleep, sleep patterns and helping your baby sleep, and a section on your own mental health. The old start-for-life address still works.
Best Start Family Hubs
Some areas only
Family hubs bring together services for families in one place. They are available in certain parts of England only, and coverage is a commitment being rolled out rather than something you can currently assume exists near you. Sleep is not a named part of the national core offer, which covers infant feeding, perinatal mental health and health visiting, though individual hubs may do more.
The previous Family Hubs and Start for Life programme guidance was withdrawn on 1 April 2026 and replaced by Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies.
Scotland
NHS 24
Free
111Free. There is also a Mental Health Hub reached on the same 111 number, which is worth knowing if what you need is not about the child's physical health.
Breathing Space
0800 83 85 876pm Friday to 6am Monday, and 6pm to 2am Monday to Thursday
Those hours are deliberately the ones nobody else covers, and they include most of the night at the weekend.
NHS inform
0800 22 44 88Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm
NHS inform do not state the call cost. It is an 0800 number, which is free from UK landlines and mobiles, but that is our inference rather than their wording. A practical note: NHS inform's babies index does not link to a baby sleep page, so for Scottish sleep information use Parent Club instead.
Parent Club
Free Website, no phone
A Scottish Government site, free, with no phone line. It has a Sleep topic, and it is the best Scottish public-sector starting point for sleep information.
Scotland offers more health visiting contacts than England
Scotland's health visiting pathway has 11 scheduled contacts from before birth to pre-school. England has five. If you are in Scotland, there are simply more built-in opportunities to raise sleep with someone who knows your child, and if you are in England it is worth knowing that fewer contacts is a feature of the system, not a sign that your worry is too small to mention.
Wales
111 Wales
Free
111Free from landlines and mobiles, which NHS 111 Wales states directly. We could not find an official page stating the opening hours, so we are not claiming them. It is an urgent care line and is very likely to be available around the clock, but we would rather say so than assert it.
Flying Start
Some areas only Under 4s
A Welsh Government programme for children under four, starting in disadvantaged areas and now being expanded: the funded childcare is gradually being extended to all two year olds across Wales. It provides enhanced health visiting, parenting support and funded part-time childcare. Enhanced health visiting means more contact than the standard offer, which can matter a great deal when sleep is the problem.
We could not confirm what general health visiting looks like in Wales outside Flying Start areas, so we are not going to describe it.
Northern Ireland
There is no 111 service in Northern Ireland
This is the single most important thing on this page for families in Northern Ireland, and it is the thing UK-wide parenting sites most often get wrong. Dialling 111 is not the route. Northern Ireland uses area-based GP out-of-hours numbers instead. Find yours below and save it in your phone now, before you need it at 2am.
The GP out-of-hours service covers from 6pm on weekdays until your surgery reopens, and 24 hours at weekends and on public holidays. For a life-threatening emergency, call 999.
| Area | Number |
|---|---|
| Belfast north and west | 028 9074 4447 |
| Belfast south and east | 028 9079 6220 |
| Ards and North Down | 028 9182 2344 |
| Lisburn and Downpatrick | 028 9260 2204 |
| Antrim, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Carrickfergus, Coleraine, Cookstown, Larne, Magherafelt, Moyle and Newtownabbey | 028 2566 3500 |
| Armagh and Dungannon, Craigavon and Banbridge, Newry and Mourne | 028 3839 9201 |
| Enniskillen, Omagh, Strabane, Derry/Londonderry and Limavady | 028 7186 5195 |
FamilySupportNI
70p per minute plus access charge
0845 600 6483We could not confirm the opening hours
This number costs 70p per minute plus your access charge. It is not free. That is a genuine amount of money for a long conversation, and nobody should find that out from their bill. The website is free to use and carries the same directory of local services.
Gateway Teams and emergency social work
Freephone
For child welfare concerns. Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm (excluding public holidays) through your local Gateway Team.
Out of hours: 0800 197 99955pm to 9am Monday to Friday, and 24 hours at weekends and public holidays
This is the Regional Emergency Social Work Service, and the number above is published by FamilySupportNI, a Northern Ireland government service.
Worth knowing if you find different numbers elsewhere: nidirect's own Gateway contact document, dated 2021, instead lists 028 9504 9999 for the Belfast, South Eastern, Southern and Western trusts and 028 9446 8833 for the Northern Trust. Both routes lead to the same emergency social work service. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.
Sure Start in Northern Ireland
There are 38 Sure Start projects across Northern Ireland, offering support to families with young children in their areas.
To register a baby with a GP in Northern Ireland you use form GRO 4.
We tried around ten sources and could not confirm how the health visiting service works in Northern Ireland, so we are not going to describe it rather than guess.
Where this comes from
- Charity Commission register for England and Wales, every England and Wales charity number on this page.
- OSCR, the Scottish Charity Regulator, every SC charity number on this page.
- Cry-sis contact page, the Cry-sis number and hours, corroborated on the NHS colic page.
- The Lullaby Trust contact page, both Lullaby Trust lines and their hours.
- The Sleep Charity National Sleep Helpline, the helpline number, hours, call cost and the 12 month age rule.
- sleepaction.org and OSCR SC027560, the Sleep Action rename and the absence of a phone number.
- Coram Family Lives, the current number and hours, replacing the register's stale 24 hour wording.
- Gingerbread contact page, the helpline closure on 1 April 2025.
- Bliss support page, confirming there is no telephone helpline.
- National Autistic Society contact page, confirming there is no public helpline.
- Samaritans contact page, 116 123, call cost and availability.
- Babyzone Baby Buddy, where the Baby Buddy app went after Best Beginnings ceased to exist.
- Action for Children Parent Talk, the free online service that replaces the helpline people look for.
- OSCR SC027007, The Breastfeeding Network, behind the National Breastfeeding Helpline.
- Healthy Child Programme, health visiting ages 0 to 5, the five mandated reviews in England.
- NHS Best Start in Life, the renamed NHS parenting hub and its baby sleep section.
- Find a family hub, gov.uk, family hub coverage in England.
- NHS 24 and NHS inform, the Scottish phone routes.
- Parent Club, Scottish Government sleep information.
- 111 Wales, the Welsh phone route and its availability.
- Flying Start programme, Welsh Government, enhanced health visiting for under fours in some areas.
- nidirect GP out-of-hours service, every Northern Ireland area number and the confirmation that there is no 111 service.
- FamilySupportNI, the Northern Ireland services directory whose phone line costs 70p per minute plus access charge.
Last checked 1 August 2026. This page is general information, not medical advice. If you are worried about your child, speak to your health visitor or GP.