Struggling young mothers are being left to cope by themselves because of a chronic shortage of health visitors.
Alarming figures show 320 full-time visitors are lost from the Health Service every year - almost one a day.
Many mothers are being told they won't receive ANY visits - and are being advised to do the "visiting" themselves by going to local clinics.
The shortage, due to NHS funding cuts, comes just eight months after Health Secretary Alan Johnson told the Labour Party conference: "We need more visitors to tackle health issues in deprived communities."
But health visitor numbers are now at their lowest for 14 years and in some areas each one looks after more than 1,000 children, when NHS guidelines recommend one per 400.
Faced with cutbacks, local health authorities see scrapping health visitor jobs as an easy way to save money, arguing that new mums can cope without home visits.
But unions say an extra 4,000 health visitors are urgently needed in England alone.
Kevin Coyne, head of health at the Unite union, said: "Experienced health visitors are the first point of contact with families and are trained to assess needs - detecting child development problems, child protection issues and signs of post-natal depression.
"We calculate that, if most health visitors carry out around 30 visits a week, over the last year there were 400,000 fewer visits."
All families with children under five are allocated a health visitor, who is a qualified nurse or midwife who has undergone further training.
They provide a much-valued service, with a poll by YouGov showing that 76 per cent of parents in England want such support.
But latest official figures show 320 health visitor jobs were lost in the year to September 2007. There are now 9,056 full-time posts in the NHS - 10 per cent fewer than three years ago.
When a health visitor retires or changes jobs, their post is often left unfilled, creating a massive increase in workload for those remaining.
A health visitor should look after 300 families, or 400 children. But a Family and Parenting Institute survey found, in some areas, each was responsible for up to 1,140 children.
Routine visits often fall outside the 21-day target after a child's birth and, in some areas, the review of babies at eight months has been suspended for all but the most vulnerable families.
The Family Institute's Sally Gimson said: "The health visitor service is in a sorry state of affairs. Numbers vary wildly. How often families see a health visitor, if at all, is a postcode lottery."
There are 9,056 health visitors in the NHS, 10% fewer than three years ago.
Health visitors should look after 400 children but many care for up to 1,140.
Campaigners say we need an extra 4,000 in England alone to give proper service.
76% of parents say they want help and support from a trained health visitor.
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