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Feeding your baby

Feeding a baby is so much more than providing food. It is a time to enjoy closeness, warmth and love as you both get to know each other. Whichever way you choose to feed your baby, we will support you to make the most of this important time together. By keeping your baby close and watching what your baby does, you will be able to recognise and respond to comfort their needs for security and food.

Building a loving relationship with your new baby will give them the best possible start in life and help them to grow up happy and confident and this starts in pregnancy. The leaflet Building a happy baby: A guide for parents and the video Breastfeeding and relationships in the early days discuss getting to know your baby and setting up the foundations for a strong relationship. Cuddling and comforting your baby in which feeding is a big part, releases the ‘love’ hormone oxytocin and this helps your baby’s brain to develop.

NHS

Research shows us that breastfeeding and giving breast milk to your baby is the healthiest way to feed them but 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, whatever that is.

During your pregnancy you will be given ‘A mothers and others guide to feeding and caring for your new baby’. It is a concise easy read booklet that gives you all the information you need to make informed choices about feeding and caring for your baby. You are also very welcome to discuss any questions you may have at each antenatal appointment with your midwife.

NHS

How can I prepare for meeting my baby and getting my feeding journey off to the best start?

Getting to know your baby before birth

  • Imagine what it is like for your baby in the womb
  • Talk to your baby
  • Play music and see how your baby reacts
  • Gently stroke your stomach when your baby kicks.

Meeting your baby at birth
Holding your baby in skin to skin contact after the birth encourages a surge of hormones, which will help you to form a bond with your baby.
Responding to your baby’s needs

  • Babies need to feel secure and safe
  • It is not good for babies to be left to cry and you cannot spoil your baby by responding to their needs for protection, closeness, comfort, love and food. This will encourage healthy brain development
  • You will be able to respond to your baby’s needs for comfort and feeding if you keep your baby close, making life easier.

Think about your feeding options

  • Consider what your feelings and expectations are about breastfeeding
  • Breastfeeding is about protection, comfort and food
  • Breastfeeding is the healthiest way to feed your baby
  • If you intend to bottle feed, consider giving expressed breast milk or colostrum and how you can simulate some of the benefits that come with breastfeeding
  • If you are unsure about feeding, you do not need to make a decision until your baby is born and you will be offered help and support.

Once you baby is here, what support will I get?

Our whole team at the Jessop Wing (pictured above), including students, support workers, nurses and midwives are committed to supporting you to get off to a good start with feeding your baby We also have a specialist Infant feeding team of midwives and support workers who are available to give additional care and support should it be needed.

The UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative

We are proud to have Baby Friendly accreditation at the Jessop Wing and strive to uphold the standards in all that we do. Learn more about the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative here.

Breastfeeding your baby

The Department of Health (DH) and WHO recommend that babies have nothing other than breastmilk for the first six months of life and then continue breastfeeding with complementary foods for up to two years and beyond. Breastfeeding improves the health of mothers and babies and helps to nurture a close and responsive relationship between mother and child. Your breastmilk will adapt to the changing needs of your developing baby.

Successful breastfeeding may be defined as breastfeeding for as long you as you wish to. Many mothers in the UK experience problems with breastfeeding and give up earlier than they would have liked. We aim to provide the information, support and encouragement you need to breastfeed for as long as you and your baby would like.

Learning about breastfeeding during pregnancy should help you feel more confident and understand how to avoid or solve common breastfeeding problems. We really encourage you to attend an antenatal class on breastfeeding – most birth preparation classes will cover this. It is also really important to talk to your midwives during your pregnancy about feeding your baby.

The following resources are a good introduction to breastfeeding:

 

Bottle feeding your baby

Although we encourage all mothers to breastfeed because of the health benefits for mothers and babies, we know that some mothers may be unable to, or choose not to, breastfeed. Midwives will offer the opportunity to explore your thoughts about feeding, and support your informed choice. Please let them know if you prefer not to have this conversation.

If you want to bottle feed, please bring in your own supply of ready-made infant formula. We do not supply infant formula in hospital unless it is needed for a medical reason. We supply disposable sterile bottles and teats.

Safe bottle feeding

We will support you to bottle feed your baby as safely as possible—this includes:

  • Avoiding overfeeding by bottle
  • Bottle feeding in a way which promotes a close mother-baby relationship
  • Making up formula and sterilising equipment correctly
  • Using the correct formula

Many of the health risks of formula are related to increased risk of obesity in childhood and later life. It can be tempting to encourage a baby to feed when they are no longer hungry, hoping to get them to sleep for longer, or simply to use up the amount of formula milk you have made up. It is safer to feed your baby little and often in response to their signs of hunger. 

Safe bottle feeding also means feeding in a way that encourages a close relationship between mother and baby and maximises opportunities for developing language and communication skills. Try to limit the number of different people who bottle feed your baby—preferably just the mother and one other person—so that the pleasurable feelings associated with feeding are linked to that person.

See the UK Baby Friendly Initiative guide Responsive bottlefeeding and more detail about how to bottle feed in the Formula Guide for Parents leaflet which answers questions like ‘How often should I feed my baby?’, ‘How do I know if my baby is hungry?’, ‘How do I know if my baby is getting enough milk?’, and ‘How do I help my baby to feed from a bottle?’. The UNICEF Bottle Feeding Assessment Tool helps families and midwives/health visitors to recognise if bottle feeding is going well.

If you make up powdered milk feeds, please read the Guide to bottlefeeding leaflet for detailed information on making up feeds and sterilising equipment. Current guidance is to make up only one bottle of formula at a time, and to add the milk powder to water which is 70°C—this is approximately the temperature if you boil a large kettle (at least 1 litre) and leave it to cool for no more than 30 minutes—in order to reduce the risk of infection by killing any bacteria in the milk powder.

Babies only need Stage 1 Newborn Infant Milk or First Infant Milk, until they are one year old, and then they can start drinking full fat cows’ milk. There is no need for them to have ‘follow-on milk’. See What Infant Formula to Choose and for more detailed information on different infant milks see First Steps Nutrition’s Guide to Infant Milks.  

Mixing bottle feeding and breastfeeding

We want to support you to care for baby with your preferred method of feeding but we know that introducing bottle feeding, particularly at an early stage will make it harder for your baby to learn to feed at your breast if this is something you would like to do.

Research also shows us for a number of reasons, that if you are mixing bottle feeding and breastfeeding, you are likely to stop breastfeeding sooner than if you just breastfeed.

Giving infant formula to a breastfed baby will also reduce your breast milk supply, so please do speak to your midwife or feeding support worker if this is something you would like to explore, so we can offer you all the information you need to make an informed choice.

It’s also important to know that if you wish to mainly bottle-feed, you can continue giving regular breastfeeds as often as you want—for example, just once a day, as any amount of breastmilk is beneficial for your baby.

Breastfeeding is the healthiest way to feed your baby. If you have not previously breastfed, or you have stopped breastfeeding, it is possible to try starting again at any time.

Dedicated infant feeding peer support

We are very fortunate in Sheffield to have a dedicated infant feeding peer support team provided by the city council! Working closely with midwives and health visitors, they will contact you during your pregnancy to introduce themselves to provide information and support during the antenatal and postnatal period. The team are there to support with all aspects of feeding, caring for, and bonding with your baby.

There are a number of support options to include everyone. All the groups are supported by one of the trained Infant Feeding Peer Support Workers.

Should you need support you can call 0114 2735665 or email Sheffieldfamilycentres@sheffield.gov.uk. If you require support at evening or weekends you can contact the National Breastfeeding Helpline on 0300 100 0212 or visit www.breastfeedinginsheffield.co.uk for information on local breastfeeding support groups.

 

Infant Feeding Resources

In addition to the research and campaigning work the BFI do, they have also created a range of really useful videos to support new parents in the early days after the birth:

Support for parents - Baby Friendly Initiative (unicef.org.uk)

The videos and information cover the following:

  • Practical Breastfeeding information and advice
  • Bottle feeding, paced feeding and how to make up bottles safely
  • Expressing and storing milk
  • Responsive feeding
  • Caring for your baby at night
  • Caring for your baby in the neonatal unit
  • Feeding twins and multiples

Home | Welcome to Human Milk (human-milk.com) - Remarkable Breastfeeding Science and Support

 

First Steps Nutrition Trust – information about formula and nutrition

Drugs In Breastmilk - Is It Safe? - The Breastfeeding Network

La Leche League GB - Friendly breastfeeding support from pregnancy onwards
National Breastfeeding Helpline – Helpline

 

The law

The Equality Act 2010 says that it is discrimination to treat a person unfavourably because they are breastfeeding. It applies to anyone providing services, benefits, facilities and premises to the public, public bodies, further and higher education bodies and association. Service providers include most organisations that deal directly with the public. Service providers must not discriminate, harass or victimise that person because they are breastfeeding. Discrimination includes refusing to provide a service, providing a lower standard of service or providing a service on different terms. Therefore, a cafe owner cannot ask you to stop breastfeeding or refuse to serve you.

The international Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes outlines the law regarding regulations around advertising breastmilk substitutes and formula milk.