MUMS-to-be in Bradford and Airedale are being urged to make sure they take up the offer of free Healthy Start vitamins to keep them and their developing baby in good health throughout pregnancy.

Although the vitamins have been available to about 8,500 pregnant women a year across the district since 2011 when the Every Baby Matters initiative first started to improve mum and child health, midwives and health workers want to put out a reminder.

Clare Gelder, principal dietician at St Luke's Hospital, said the Healthy Start scheme offering free vitamins was brought in by NHS Bradford and Airedale as part of its infant mortality strategy.

She said: "We are really lucky in Bradford to get these vitamins free as a universal measure. We are fairly unique. There's only another six or seven places like us."

Dark-skinned women and women who are not getting outdoors enough particularly need to get the extra vitamins especially Vitamin D to help make strong bones, she added.

"We want to reinforce the message firstly that these vitamins are available to all mums-to-be in our area. There's been good uptake on the offer but recently it's dipped a bit.

"Even those pregnant women who think they already eat well, should still take them because they will just support their good diet. It's better to take them than not. All the vitamins are just in one tablet to be taken once a day."

The vitamins, available from midwives and health workers through vouchers as well as some GP centres and hopefully soon more community pharmacies, contain vitamins A, C and D and folic acid – which are all really important to help women have a healthy pregnancy and for their baby’s health.

Once their babies are born, new mums are still encouraged to continue taking vitamins while they are breastfeeding and to give them to their babies and toddlers in the form of drops.

Vitamins drops for babies are also free up to six months and if health workers think youngsters still need them after that, they can still get them free up to two years of age.

Ms Gelder said: "The ante-natal booking pack which new mums-to-be get contains the healthy start booklet which has an application form in it for the vitamins. The midwife will sign this and advise the pregnant woman to complete and send off.

"Vitamins vouchers as part of the Healthy Start Scheme are sent out from the Department of Health every eight weeks as well as a separate Healthy Start voucher for milk, fruit and veg.

Mums can get the vitamins from health centres at Westbourne Green , Kensington Street, Horton Park, Woodroyd, Holme |Wood, Barkerend, Hillside Bridge, Undercliffe, Canalside and Keighley.