Health visiting teams across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent support parents to make informed decisions about feeding and caring for their babies.
The aim is to enable mothers to breastfeed for as long as they want to by providing support and information, both before and after their baby is born.
Parents who have made the decision to formula feed are supported to do so as safely and responsively as possible.
All health visitors and additional staff who provide one to one infant feeding advice and support have successfully completed a UNICEF Baby Friendly recognised breastfeeding management course, followed by a review of practical skills.
Some health visitors also hold the internationally recognised qualification IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant)
The practitioners will:
- Assist a mother to understand how to identify that their baby is getting enough milk
- Ensure feeding is a comfortable experience for both mum and baby
- Identify where more help is needed
- Facilitate breastfeeding support via one to one and groups
Take a look at our short animation about the service we offer:
The UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative have produced Breast and Bottle Feeding information leaflets in a range of languages; including Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Lithuanian, Mandarin, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu:
Our Values within Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT) include putting people at heart of what we do, empowering and engaging our workforce to improve care and wellbeing, delivering better health and better care in partnership. These when brought to life help make life better for all of our communities.
We have created the Feeding and Nurture Awards (F.a.N Awards) to celebrate and congratulate members of staff who demonstrate these values when supporting families in relation to feeding and nurturing their babies.
So if someone has done something big or small which has made a real difference to you, and brings the trusts values to life, you can say a ‘thank you’ by nominating them.
You can submit a 'Feeding and Nurture Award' nomination via our Feeding and Nurture (F.a.N) Awards Nomination Form.
All nominees will be sent a ‘F.a.N award’ card and a badge.