Parents are increasingly turning to social media influencers and self-styled ‘experts’ for advice. How can CPs ensure their voices are heard in the new battle for good information? Journalist Jo Waters reports.
Instagram and TikTok influencers, and WhatsApp groups, are just some of the unregulated sources parents are using to fill the parenting ‘information gaps’ when they seek advice.
Around a third of parents of young children now scroll social media for parenting help (Department for Education [DfE] and Department of Health and Social Care [DHSC], 2025a).
CPHVA Executive chair Janet Taylor, a health visitor manager in Northern Ireland, says that health visitors are coming up against misinformation regularly in practice.
‘HVs are experiencing it with sleep advice, nutrition, immunisation and behaviour – it’s so frustrating,’ she says.
‘There are people on internet platforms telling mums their children won’t get measles if they only give them organic food for goodness sake, or advising them to lay their baby in unsafe sleep positions.
‘HVs are confident in delivering the evidence-based public health messages, but, often, they are having to dispel other information the parent has come across, and convince them that what they are saying is right and true.
‘We welcome these conversations with parents – where this falls down is where you don’t have enough HVs doing sufficient visits, as is the case in England currently.’
A PERFECT STORM
The explosion in information has coincided with shrinking HV numbers in England and fewer mandatory visits for under-fives.
‘We’ve got this perfect storm at the moment, where face-to-face contact with health practitioners is harder to get in England – and possibly in Wales too, and online, unregulated platforms have exploded,’ says CPHVA Executive member Rhian Ogden, lecturer in child nursing at the University of Leeds and former school nurse (SN).
One analysis, based on NHS England figures from April, found the number of HVs in England has fallen from 10,200 a decade ago to 5575 in January this year – a drop of 45% (De Ferrer and Clarke, 2026). A separate analysis, from 2016 to 2021 – when HV numbers dropped by a fifth in five years in most areas of England – revealed some caseloads of 1000+ children per caseload-holding staff member (Conti et al, 2026). There’s been a similar decline in SNs; a 2024 study found that numbers had fallen by 32% across England since 2009 and were on track to halve in size compared with 20 years previously (Royal College of Nursing, 2024).
In a June parliamentary debate on maternity nurses, nannies and the infant sleep industry, Connor Rand, Labour MP for Altrincham and Sale West (Hansard, 2026) told MPs: ‘At the moment, we run the risk of unimaginable tragedies day after day, and it is happening more and more as the support we used to provide for new parents has shrunk.’
He continued: ‘The number of HVs has almost halved in the past decade, and home visits are not happening consistently across the country, as overstretched staff battle caseloads of up to 1000 families. That is the vacuum that causes parents to walk into the wild west of dangers.’
Dr Ruth Oshikanlu, an independent HV who runs a programme for mothers who have experienced pregnancy loss and assisted conception, says HVs do their best to challenge incorrect information that parents present to them, but she reiterates that CPs in England don’t see families as much as they did in the past, so there are fewer opportunities to build a relationship.
Parents cannot be blamed for searching for alternative sources of advice when faceto-face support from health professionals is getting harder to access, says Rhian.
‘As parents get to see health practitioners less and less – whether it’s the GP, HV or SN – they are filling the gaps by seeking information online,’ she adds, ‘particularly with sleep, where new parents can get overwhelmed and sleep deprived, and end up feeling quite desperate.’
A spokesperson for baby sleep charity The Lullaby Trust says :‘It’s clear that, with HV workforce numbers having fallen, families are turning elsewhere for advice.’
‘WE’VE GOT THIS PERFECT STORM AT THE MOMENT, WHERE FACE-TO-FACE CONTACT WITH HEALTH PRACTITIONERS IS HARDER TO GET AND ONLINE, UNREGULATED PLATFORMS HAVE EXPLODED’
THE PARENT EXPERIENCE
In a survey commissioned by the government, 48% of 2511 UK parents (of 0 to four-year-olds) said they relied on friends and family for advice, and 41% on HVs (DfE and DHSC, 2025b). However, 33% said they went to social media platforms for advice and 30% went to social networking sites, while almost one in five (18%) said they used Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, multiple times daily, for parenting advice. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the vast majority (68%) were struggling with conflicting advice (DfE and DHSC, 2025a).
A King’s College London (KCL) review around the same time found that many parents are negatively impacted by the breadth of information available: it found evidence of parents feeling overwhelmed and bewildered by all the inconsistent advice. Stephen Scott, professor emeritus at KCL and the King’s Maudsley Partnership, co-authored this evidence review on the effects of social media on parents of underfives (De Pablo and Scott, 2025 – in preprint). Professor Scott says the weak credibility of some sources can affect parents’ confidence and even prevent them from making key parenting decisions.
‘We found parents were really confused about what they were seeing and reading, and didn’t know whether to trust it or not,’ he says. ‘Sometimes “experts” weren’t terribly qualified either – they might have a psychology degree but no clinical practice, for instance, and were just giving their opinions.
‘There were other experts who were commercially driven, trying to sell people vitamin supplements and wellbeing products. What surprised us was that parents – particularly women – said following influencers with a beautiful house and glamorous lifestyle actually made them feel worse, less confident and a failure as a parent.’
Dr Emily Crosby, a registered child and educational psychologist, says there is no such thing as perfect parents, but when parents are struggling it’s easy and natural for them to doubt themselves.
‘If parents are feeling like that, then going online can exacerbate those feelings, as people only tend to post highlights, so they may be comparing with something that isn’t necessarily their reality, which can make feelings worse,’ she adds.
Professor Scott believes parenting skills should be taught early on. ‘We definitely need parenting classes for all, and this should start at secondary school. There’s a programme, called the Roots of empathy, where you take a baby into a class and teach the pupils about attachment. We then need more classes prenatally, and again just before children start school.’
THINK BEFORE YOU POST
CPHVA Executive member Rhian Ogden says: ‘Tempting as it might be to take to TikTok or Instagram to spread accurate health informationfor parents, we advise our student nurses not to do this, as it is potentially a legal minefield, and you’ll be representing your employer with the views and information you are sharing.’
Also, check the NMC Guidance on using social media responsibly. Its advice includes:
- Be informed Make sure that you familiarise yourself with how individual social media applications work, and be clear about the advantages
- and disadvantages.
- Protect your professionalism and your reputation If you are unsure whether something you post online could compromise either of these things, think about what the information means for you in practice and how it affects your responsibility to keep to the Code.
- Consider who and what you associate with on social media
THE NEW ‘FAKE’ EXPERTS
In May this year, self-described ‘infant sleep experts’ were found by a BBC investigation to be giving dangerous and incorrect advice online to parents of newborns that could put babies at risk of serious harm and even death (Talwar, 2026). One ‘expert’ advised that a newborn should be placed on its front, a position proven to increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. Another recommended putting towels in a baby’s cot, another unsafe practice. The BBC film highlighted that, with no regulation, anyone can call themselves a sleep expert.
‘Recent media investigations have highlighted examples of some baby sleep experts giving guidance to families that contradicts evidence-based safer sleep advice, backed by decades of research,’ says a spokesperson for The Lullaby Trust. ‘This includes advice to place babies on their front to sleep, using soft items in sleep spaces, or ways to hold the baby in one position.
‘We have heard from parents and carers that the overwhelming amount of conflicting advice can be confusing, particularly on social media. It can be difficult to know who to trust. Parents and carers may often seek sleep support when they are exhausted and sleep deprived, which can make finding trusted advice even harder.’
Labour MP Connor described the infant sleep industry in particular as ‘the wild west’ in the debate on maternity nurses, nannies and the infant sleep Industry (Hansard, 2026). He told MPs: ‘Anyone can pose as an expert and give parents advice that puts their child’s life at risk. Sometimes, these people call themselves maternity nurses, practitioners or consultants. Sometimes they call themselves sleep trainers or specialists.
‘In all cases, there is no requirement for them to have any medical training or qualifications to justify their title. In addition, there is no legal accountability for advice provided and no recognised standard for support provided.’
Ruth puts this into context: ‘When parents are in crisis, they go online for advice, and some of them even pay for these private consultants, who are expensive… and who don’t have any training or qualifications. These people aren’t regulated or registered, and can say anything they want – and a lot of the time they are getting paid for spreading information.’
She adds: ‘Parents will see things about celebrities or influencers not immunising their children, and them being fine and looking healthy, weaning their babies before six months and placing their babies on their front and co-sleeping. It’s all dangerous information.’
To complicate the picture further, there seems to be a ‘growing wave of AI-driven misinformation’ according to fact-checking charity FullFact (2025). Its investigation uncovered a series of social media accounts ‘using AI-generated deepfakes’ to promote supplements.
33% of new parents scroll social media platforms for support
Almost 1 in 5 (18%) use Instagram, TikTok and Facebook multiple times daily for parenting advice
68% of new parents struggle with conflicting advice and 69% feel overwhelmed
DfE and DHSC, 2025a and 2025b
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN?
The Lullaby Trust would like to see stronger legal protection of professional titles such as ‘nurse’. ‘With many people calling themselves “night nurse” or “maternity nurse”, it’s understandable that families may assume they have undertaken recognised medical training
and are accountable to a professional regulator’ it says.
‘Families may make decisions about their baby’s care based on this. We believe titles such as these are misleading. Strengthened legal protection of these titles will help families make informed choices about their baby’s care.
‘We’d also like to see the government considering minimum standards, and accreditation or regulation of anyone providing infant sleep advice.’
Connor had similar requests for the government on protecting medical titles, and asked the minister for secondary care to explore the introduction of mandatory minimum safeguarding training and qualification standards in the baby sleep industry and nanny industries (Hansard,2026). He has also called for more investment in HVs and infant care.
Alongside more regulation of self-styled experts, Rhian says: ‘We need to get better at filling the gaps for parents seeking health information – but, at the same time, we are not going to be able to start doing weekly home visits to help with sleep problems, so we need to find a better way of signposting parents to effective evidence-based advice and content that is safe.’
When it comes to regulating health information for parents on the internet, Janet believes it would be like carrying water in a sieve. ‘It’s probably impossible to control, so what we need to do as HVs and SNs is be very visible and noticeable,’ she says – at every level. So, engagement during face-to-face contacts, ‘raising our profile at a community level – across our clients and families and population, as well as government’ and lobbying MPs ‘to value the input of public health nursing and invest in services and safer staffing’.
‘We have the correct health information from the DHSC; the message needs to be strong and consistent to give parents trusted sources of information,’ she adds.
Professor Steve Turner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) says: ‘We welcome any measures that ensure parents and carers have easy access to accurate and clear information relating to the health and wellbeing of their children, and are able to speak to a regulated health professional when needed.
‘Following trusted, evidence-based guidance is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to keep your baby safe.’
WE ARE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO START DOING WEEKLY HOME VISITS… SO WE NEED TO FIND A BETTER WAY OF SIGNPOSTING PARENTS TO EFFECTIVE, EVIDENCE-BASED ADVICE AND CONTENT THAT IS SAFE’
IS THE GOVERNMENT FIGHTING FAKE EXPERTS?
‘Misinformation dressed up as expert advice can be dangerous,’ says a DHSC spokesperson. ‘That’s why we are taking decisive action to crack down on unqualified individuals masquerading as professionals, including making it a criminal offence to misuse the “nurse” title. To make it easier for parents to access trusted, evidence-based information, we launched the Best start in life website last October, which supports parents from pregnancy to starting school.
‘We are also committed to strengthening health visiting services, as well as backing Best start family hubs and healthy babies programmes with an extra £900m.’
The government is planning to protect the “nurse” title through reforms to professional regulation, which will be delivered using secondary legislation rather than a new bill. Under these changes, it will become a criminal offence for someone to call themselves a nurse unless they are properly registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (DHSC, 2025).
‘Before introducing the legislation, the government will consult on which roles should still be allowed to use the word “nurse” in their job title. A call for evidence seeking views on how the title “nurse” should be protected is expected to be published shortly,’ said a DHSC spokesperson.
SUPPORTING CPs
The spokesperson continued: ‘We are committed to empowering the HV profession, as trusted faces in communities across the country. We recently launched a £2m pilot (DHSC, 2026) that will see HVs reach families facing barriers to vaccines – such as travel costs, language difficulties or vaccine hesitancy – to ensure more children are protected.’
The minister for secondary care (Karin Smyth), told the House of Commons that HVs and their teams have an important role to play in supporting infant heath, wellbeing and parenting confidence (Hansard, 2026). She said services such as health visiting are being strengthened by providing £13.4bn for a consolidated ringfenced public health grant for local authorities, starting in 2026/27.
Ruth’s advice? CPs should keep signposting families to the trusted sources of information, such as the Best start in life website. ‘When I meet families who are not vaccine confident, for instance, or who are wrongly convinced the MMR vaccine will give their child autism, my role as a HV is to inquire why and keep educating them in a non-judgemental way,’ she says.
Janet believes the internet, social media platforms and their associated issues are here to stay. ‘It’s what is happening, but community practitioners need to be the glue that holds things together. We need to be respected and the go-to person for parents to get credible information and advice on children’s health,’ she says.
‘But there is no quick fix for this. HVs in England are struggling with caseloads of 1000 families – how will they have capacity to have these meaningful conversations?’
What’s your experience?
How much time do you have to spend correcting wrong information that clients have seen online? How do you overcome the challenge? What do you think is the answer? To share your insight, email editor Aviva Attias aviva@communitypractitioner.co.uk
RESOURCES
REFERENCES
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De Ferrer M and Clarke V. (2026) BBC News: Health visitors call for limits on impossible 1,000-family caseloads. See: bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8lp0pz3y9o (accessed 9 July 2026).
De Pablo G S and Scott S. (2025) Hazards of online advice for parents of young children: A scoping review. See: kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/assets/hazards-of-online-parenting-kcl-revision-9-october-2025-1-002.pdf (accessed 9 July 2026).
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DHSC. (2026) Families to have better access to childhood vaccinations. See: gov.uk/government/news/families-to-have-better-access-to-childhood-vaccinations (accessed 9 July 2026).
DHSC. (2025) Fake nurse crackdown to boost public safety. See: gov.uk/government/news/fake-nurse-crackdown-to-boost-public-safety (accessed 9 July 2026).
FullFact. (2025) Revealed: how academics are being deepfaked on TikTok and Instagram to promote supplements. See: fullfact.org/health/academics-deepfaked-tiktok-wellness-nest (accessed 9 July 2026).
Hansard. (2026) Maternity nurses, nannies and the infant sleep industry. See: hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2026-06-08/debates/C37D0F2A-E805-43C4-8F42-936DD28C2B19/MaternityNursesNanniesAndTheInfantSleepIndustry (accessed 9 July 2026).
Talwar D, De Ferrer M and Johnston A. (2026) BBC News: Dangerous baby sleep advice given to parents by self –described experts secret film reveals. See: bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce84e1vn1l2o (accessed 9 July 2026).
