Okehampton mums praised the library’s baby weighing facilities which continue to remain popular since it was set up in February last year.

The self-weigh session, which runs from 9.30-11.30am on a Tuesday, sees a regular stream of parents come through to take advantage of the free service, and chat with others at the same time.

The sessions coincide with the library’s well-established Bounce and Rhyme sessions a musical playgroup aimed at children under five, so that both parents and babies can socialise.

New mum Jasmine Gilkes, said: ‘Now that we don’t have the resources to do it every week it’s brilliant that it’s here and then you can go to Bounce and Rhyme afterwards and meet other babies. As a new mum, it’s been fantastic. Otherwise, I’m not sure where I’d weigh my baby, feeding her myself I want to know she’s putting on weight, she’s doing well and I can do that here.

Okehampton Library’s first assistant, Fiona Mocandpuri explained that every Tuesday the library offers a private space with NHS-approved scales that are regularly calibrated by a health professional so that parents can weigh their babies accurately.

She added: ‘Parents can come in to the Bounce and Rhyme session. We’ve got two sessions, one at 10am and one at 11am. They don’t need to book, they can just drop in and then they can stay and have a chat afterwards, get some books and they can also weigh their babies.’