Baby Week UK Celebrates 10 Years in Leeds

Annual event returns to city where it originated

Leeds is marking the 10th anniversary of Baby Week UK, the annual initiative dedicated to supporting babies, toddlers, new parents, and families with young children. The event, which runs from 14 to 20 November 2025, will feature a wide range of activities across the city aimed at promoting health and wellbeing for children aged five and under and their families.

Origins and growth of Baby Week UK

Baby Week UK was first established in Leeds in 2016 by Lucy Potter, a former Leeds City Council family support worker. Inspired by a UNICEF-funded project she observed in Brazil called ‘Semana do Bebe’, Potter sought to replicate its success in Leeds. Since its inception, Baby Week has grown significantly, becoming a registered charity in 2018 and expanding to more than 20 other regions across the UK, including Nottingham, Newcastle, and Cambridgeshire.

This year’s theme and activities

The 2025 theme is ‘Healthy Parent, Healthy Baby’. In Leeds, over 175 activities are planned throughout the week, including:

• Music classes
• Postnatal yoga sessions
• Health and wellbeing talks
• Parenting classes
• A nationwide online ‘introduction to first aid’ course
• Baby and toddler takeover day at the Thackray Museum of Medicine

Many of these sessions are free or offered at low cost and will take place at children’s centres, family hubs, libraries, and Active Leeds leisure centres.

New strategy launch and professional conference

On 20 November, Leeds will host a free national conference for professionals focusing on health, early years, and good practice. During the event, Leeds City Council and its partners will launch ‘Best Start and Beyond’, a new 10-year strategy aimed at improving outcomes for children aged 0-5 in the city from 2025 to 2035.

The strategy is jointly led by Leeds City Council’s public health and education teams, working with partners from the NHS and voluntary sector. It sets out priorities to improve health and education outcomes and reduce inequalities experienced by young children in Leeds. The strategy will be unveiled at the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board meeting on the morning of 20 November, followed by the conference in the afternoon.

Local authority comments

Councillor Helen Hayden, Leeds City Council’s executive member for children and families, said the city has “blazed a trail” in raising awareness of the importance of early childhood and expressed pride in Baby Week’s national status. She described the event as a key part of the Child Friendly Leeds initiative, which aims to make Leeds the best city for children and young people to grow up in.

Councillor Emma Flint, executive member for equality, health and wellbeing, highlighted the extensive programme of events and noted that the launch of the new strategy alongside the anniversary “reinforces our commitment to making Leeds a happy and safe place” for children to reach their potential.

Further information

For details on Baby Week activities in Leeds, visit https://babyweek.co.uk/leeds/.

The 2025 event is sponsored by the National Energy Foundation, which runs the Better Housing, Better Health project providing advice to help families stay warm, safe, and healthy.