Milk help on hand for new mothers (From York Press)

Milk help on hand for new mothers

8:40am Wednesday 2nd May 2012 in Health & Wellbeing

NEW mums are to be given advice on how to correctly prepare and use formula milk in a new Infant Feeding Room at York Hospital.

The unit is designed to help the estimated 25 per cent of new mothers who decide to use formula milk rather than breastfeeding.

Morag White, infant feeding coordinator at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “All women who come into the unit are given information regarding the health benefits of breastfeeding, however we do know that around a quarter of women choose to bottle feed. It’s important that these parents are given the right information to enable them to feed their babies.”

Parents will be asked to bring in their own formula and equipment and will be shown how to prepare and sterilise equipment, safely prepare the milk, feed and wind their baby and be given current guidance around formula feeding.

Morag said: “We want to ensure that every mum who chooses to bottle feed on formula milk goes home confident in her ability to prepare her baby’s feed and in her ability to care for her baby with regards to feeding.”

The initiative follows an audit undertaken by staff to find out how best to support in-patient mothers who choose to bottle- feed their infants.