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Here’s some good news! Despite shorter lengths of stay for birth admissions, readmission rates during the first year of life are falling – at least in NSW. A large data-linkage study examined all live births in NSW and subsequent admission to hospital (either public or private) in the first year of life. Data were available for almost 800 000 live births from 2001 to 2009. Readmission rates fell from 18.4 per 100 births in 2001 to 16.5 in 2009, an absolute fall of 1.9 per 100 births or a relative decrease of 10.5% over that period. However, the current rate still means approximately one in six infants were readmitted in 2009. The most common reasons for admission were respiratory infections, viral infections and intestinal infections. Admission rates for jaundice and feeding difficulties increased over the study period. Multivariate analysis found the major independent factors associated with the fall in readmissions were increasing maternal age, decreasing rates of maternal smoking and shorter length of stay during the birth admission. Presumably, policy changes and programmes such as the Early Postnatal Discharge and home midwifery support programmes have also played a major role in reducing readmissions. These local data are valuable, because early post-natal discharge has been an area of controversy, with concerns infant readmission rates could increase as a direct consequence.