Every baby born in England and Wales is given an NHS Number at birth.

Usually your baby would be given an NHS Number whilst they are still in hospital, however if your baby is born outside of hospital they will receive their NHS Number when the midwife registers the birth.

If you do not know or have misplaced your babies NHS Number, you can ask your local local Primary Care Trust (PCT) to look it up for you.

If your baby is already registered with a GP practice, you can contact them to look up your baby's NHS Number. If your baby is not registered, yet it is important to register them as soon as possible so that you have access to healthcare as soon as you need it.

For more information on NHS Number for babies you can download or order the NHS Number babies leaflet (PDF 1.3Mb).

To follow a real-life NHS Number case study on how the NHS Number is used in practice Jas, a member of our team at Connecting for Health, has let us follow her through her pregnancy and birth of her baby, in Jas's NHS Number diary.