What is Healthy Start?
If you’re more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4, you may be entitled to get help to buy healthy food and milk.
If you’re eligible, you’ll be sent a Healthy Start card with money on it that you can use in some UK shops. We’ll add your benefit onto this card every 4 weeks.
You can use your card to buy:
- plain liquid cow’s milk
- fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables
- fresh, dried, and tinned pulses
- infant formula milk based on cow’s milk
You can also use your card to collect:
- Healthy Start vitamins – these support you during pregnancy and breastfeeding
- vitamin drops for babies and young children – these are suitable from birth to 4 years old
Information: If you live in Scotland
You can get help from Best Start Foods (opens in a new tab) instead.
Advice on healthy eating
For more advice on healthy eating, visit:

Free Healthy Start vitamins
You can get free vitamins for you and your child with your Healthy Start card

Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions that people may have about the Healthy Start scheme