Feeding and nurturing your baby

We are very proud that we are a Baby Friendly hospital and we have received UNICEF Baby Friendly accreditation for our standard of care. This accreditation indicates that we meet best practice standards to support breastfeeding and close parent-infant relationships. 

We want to ensure that all parents are enabled to make informed decisions about feeding their babies and are supported and encouraged in their chosen feeding method.

Your antenatal midwife will discuss your thoughts and feelings about looking after and feeding your baby, give you some basic information to help you make informed choices, and get breastfeeding off to a good start.

Antenatal breastfeeding workshops for families at our hospitals can help you feel more confident about breastfeeding your baby and understand how to avoid or solve common breastfeeding problems.

In hospital, staff including midwives, nurses and  maternity support workers , will help you learn how to put your baby to your breast, hand express your milk and how to tell if breastfeeding is going well. If you choose to bottle feed, they will teach you how to bottle feed as safely as possible.

Your community midwife will visit you at home or contact you by telephone to assess how well your baby is feeding and support you with any difficulties.

Your health visitor will see you at home after the birth and continue to review your child’s development at a child health clinic. They will give ongoing support with infant feeding, starting solids from six months and going back to work.

Some parents would like additional support with feeding after they have gone home from hospital. You can find out more about breastfeeding, bottle feeding and introducing solid foods here (weaning) here.