The Murrumbidgee Local Health District and Tresillian family care centre will not be officially opened until Monday, August 28, but it is already open and helping our parents.

For Wagga’s Sarah Ritchie, the new centre has been highly beneficial.

Ms Ritchie, the mum of three-month-old Joseph, was able to get help with feeding and sleeping issues.

“They have been so good, just amazing,” she said.

“It’s changed our lives.”

The centre was set up after Tresillian and the Murrumbidgee Local Health District signed a new partnership agreement.

For parents with children aged three and under, there is help on a range of issues, from difficulties with breastfeeding, settling a baby, toddler behaviour or perinatal anxiety and depression, will be delivered from a new Murrumbidgee Family Care Centre.

To access the services at the Yentoo Drive centre, parents can be referred by their child and family nurses, a GP, paeditrician or other health professional.

MLHD chief executive Jill Ludford says Tresillian is a well-known family health organisation with an enviable reputation, and the move will not only expand services, but also help with the professional development of local nurses.

Tresillian has existed for almost a century. It began in 1918 with the formation of the Royal Society for the Welfare of Mothers and Babies in Sydney. It  was a NSW government initiative sparked by soaring infant mortality rates and a shortage of health services for new mothers.