All staff in our maternity, neonatal, and transitional care areas are trained to give you help, information and advice on feeding your baby, however you choose to feed.
The Infant Feeding Team is here to provide specialist support with feeding your baby in some of the more challenging circumstances. We can also provide information and advice for other healthcare professionals who may be supporting you.
We’re extremely proud that Maternity services achieved full UNICEF Baby Friendly accreditation in 2012, and our neonatal team in 2019. Together, we’re now working towards the UNICEF Gold award. For more information on the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative, please click here.
We work with families both before (antenatally) and after (postnatally) birth and can support you with a wide variety of issues that are affecting feeding, including:
We adapt our support to fit the requirements of the individual family. We usually see babies until they are 12 weeks old, though we do not have a formal cut off, and are happy to discuss issues and refer you to alternative services if that’s more appropriate.
Community-based infant feeding support services will be reduced during the Covid-19 risk period. Therefore we are extending our support to all patients and staff who need help during this time.
If you’re a healthcare professional working with a family that needs feeding support, please still make your referral in the usual way.
We will be working 7 days per week to meet demand and offering support via phone, email and video calling. If it’s clinically necessary for a face to face appointment, as long as it remains possible, we can see patients at the Nest on Wheal Fortune Ward at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.
For more information about feeding your baby during the coronavirus outbreak, please read the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative statement on infant feeding during the COVID-19 outbreak.
You can also find up-to-date information on Coronavirus and breastfeeding on the Breastfeeding Network website.
We work to cover as many days as possible, but are unable to offer a 24-hour service. We try to respond to referrals within 72 hours.
We are based in The Nest, on Wheal Fortune ward at the Royal Cornwall Hospital. From here we provide support across the wider Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust provision.
Janey Ashton
Helen Shanahan