Infant feeding
Help with feeding your baby
Whatever way you choose to feed your baby – directly from your breasts, using expressed milk, giving formula or a mix of these methods – you may find you need help to learn the new skills involved as you and your baby get to know each other and what you both like.
There is help and support available both locally and nationally through classes, videos and helplines.
You will still receive home visiting and telephone support from the community midwifery teams, and Health Visitors have resumed home visits
Tongue Tie service has resumed: Referrals only from your Community Midwife/ Health Visitor/ GP.
As part of our antenatal education there is now an infant feeding session available - please speak to your community midwife for details about how to register for these.
If you are unable to access these sessions, then we have a pre-recorded film of the infant feeding classes we used to run. This video and more are available on the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust You Tube channel.
Please also take a look at the Feeding and Relationship videos posted on our FaceBook page.
Local Groups
NCT local breastfeeding peer support Facebook page.
NCT Reading Baby Cafe @ Bumps & Babies Facebook page - a free drop-in, run by an NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor, which supports parents to feed their baby. No need to book in advance just turn up any time between 1pm and 3pm
Message the local page: one of the NCT supporters can arrange a virtual chat or you can email parentsupport.readingnct.org.uk
For women living in Wokingham only: Breastfeeding network Wokingham area - request a video call by messaging the Facebook page and a phone call by emailing wokingham@breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk
For women living in West Berkshire only: Breastfeeding support West Berkshire Community - Jo Roberts and her team hold regular breast feeding support zooms on Thursday afternoons.
La Leche League Berks meet in-person at Ikea Reading once a month usually on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, contact lllberks.uk@gmail.com for details.
They also meet monthly on Zoom, usually the first Wednesday of the month, contact lllberks.uk@gmail.com for log in details.
National Groups
Call on 0300 330 0700
08:00 am - 24:00pm every day including bank holidays.
0300 100 0212 from 09:30 am - 21:30 pm, 7 days a week. Live online support via web chat.
Call: 0300 330 5453, 09:30 am - 22:30 pm every day of the year.
Call: 0800 138 0509, Monday - Friday 10:00 am - 13:00 pm and 19:00 pm - 22:00 pm.
Key points
- Keep your baby close – respond to your baby’s needs for food love and comfort.
- Meeting your baby’s needs will help meet your emotional needs too.
- Express by hand and pump after feeds to encourage your supply.
- Adopt more skin contact when you feed.
- Monitor your baby’s wellbeing by checking for heavy, wet and dirty nappies and how content baby seems each day.
Help with feeding and looking after your baby
Here are some useful videos about looking after and feeding your baby.
Breast feeding and bottle feeding charts
Most new parents invariably ask: 'How can I tell if my baby is getting enough food and my feeding is going well?".
We have produced two new charts to help you - "How do I know if breast feeding is going well?" and "How do I know if bottle feeding is going well?".
Have a look at these charts as they will give you an idea of your baby's feeding progress. Scroll down and look at the nappy matters sheet, it’s an easy way to see at a glance that things are usually ok, as if enough is going in then enough comes out!
Please talk to your midwife or any Health care professional if you have any feeding concerns.
Pictorial guide to your baby's bowel movements over the first few days
Contact Infant Feeding Team
- Marsh Ward - Level 4 Maternity Block
- Craven Road
- Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
- Reading
- RG1 5AN
Information leaflets