What is the BFS Antenatal Offer
Birmingham Forward Steps offers all pregnant women the opportunity to explore their thoughts and feelings during pregnancy. We can support you to recognise and respond to your baby’s needs and develop a positive relationship with your growing baby in utero.
We can also support you to explore your thoughts and feelings about feeding your baby.
Your local Children’s Centre run the following activities that will give you opportunities to meet other parents and ask any questions you have regarding your babies development.
Learn about Baby Massage, it has a variety of benefits for both parent and baby. Your calming touch will let your baby feel nurtured, loved and cared for. It will allow your baby to feel more relaxed which may improve sleep, help with colic, constipation, and teething pains. Each gentle stroke will bring you and your baby closer together building your bond with baby.
Baby Group will give you ideas and inspiration of what to do to help with your baby development at home. These include communication, language, physical development, and social and emotional development.
Parental Emotional Wellbeing Workers support women, children and the wider family by offering a range of interventions to support mental health through pregnancy and up to the babies first year of life and beyond. They offer wellness skills to help you feel emotionally well 1-1 or in group work.
To find out more information and how to access these activities by contacting your local Children’s Centre through our postcode checker by clicking here.
The Antenatal Solihull Approach Course, offered by Birmingham Forward Steps is a free five week course designed for all pregnant women, partners and family members.
You’ll learn about pregnancy, labour and birth and your baby in a friendly, safe space. You can find details on the next available course by contacting your local Children’s Centre.
We also offer free Solihull Approach understanding your pregnancy, labour, birth and your baby virtual classes. (Available in Arabic, English, Urdu, and Welsh. Women couples classes are also available) please click here to book.
A whole range of other courses including Bump and Me are available. Contact your local Children’s Centre or visit their Facebook page for updates and timetables.
Every mom to be in Birmingham will receive a letter from a local Health Visiting team between 28 and 34 weeks gestation informing them of Health Visiting services and what the Children Centre’s offer.
Once received, mom’s to be can have the opportunity to contact the Health Visiting team if needed for support, advice and an antenatal visit to help prepare a positive bond with baby and enable professionals to identify any extra support which may be needed for families.
This early engagement will compliment support from the midwife.
To contact your local Health Visiting team, please click here.
As part of the Antenatal Offer, you can also contact the Antenatal Infant Feeding Worker in your local Children Centre’s. They also have a Duty Worker who can give you advice and guidance on wider issues, please click here.
We provide Dads groups across the city to provide a network of support and advice.
For more information, get in touch with your local children’s centre.
To explore options on how you could feed your baby, please click here to download the BUMP Feeding Baby leaflet.
You can discuss these options further with your midwife, health visitor or your local antenatal infant feeding worker who will help you make an informed decision that is right for your family. Please click here to contact your local Children’s Centre.
Your local Antenatal Infant Feeding Worker runs local Breastfeeding Support Lounges, which offer friendly spaces for you to access information and support towards getting breastfeeding off to the best start.
At the lounges you can establish breastfeeding with positioning and attachment advice before baby is born. We also offer advice on responsive breastfeeding to help you, your baby and partner have a positive feeding journey.
Birmingham Forward Steps offer virtual breastfeeding support lounges for you to join during pregnancy or after birth.
At the virtual lounges you can interact with your local Antenatal Infant Feeding Worker who will support you to establish breastfeeding with positioning and attachment advice. They will also offer advice on responsive breastfeeding and what to expect.
Virtual lounges offer a chance to meet parents who are breastfeeding and a chance to ask any questions and explore any concerns you may have about feeding your baby.
To find out details of these, click here to contact your local Children’s Centre.
We also offer the free Solihull Approach parenting virtual course which is available in Arabic, English, Urdu, and Welsh. Women couples classes are also available, please click here to book.
Infant Feeding Team
The Infant Feeding Team works closely with Health Visiting teams and Children’s Centres to make breastfeeding the norm. The service is dedicated to supporting and promoting breastfeeding and safe formula feeding practices in line with UNICEF’s Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI).
Breastfeeding is an important public health issue and as such the Government recognises that breast milk is the best form of nutrition for infants and supports breastfeeding through its Healthy Child Programme.
The Antenatal Infant Feeding Team is working closely with Health Visiting teams and Early Years Health and Wellbeing Service to make breastfeeding the norm, by every child getting the best start in life and to ensure a supportive environment in which all parents make a positive choice and are enabled to breastfeed for longer.
To access support or have a chat with your local Health Visitor or Antenatal Infant Feeding Worker, please click here
Bump
Working together in Birmingham and Solihull to ensure every baby has the best possible start in life.
Start for Life
Start for Life’s top 10 pregnancy FAQ’s
La Leche League Breastfeeding
Warm and friendly breastfeeding counsellors (Leaders) provide mother to mother support for breastfeeding via meetings, helpforms, phonecalls and social media.
National Childbirth Trust
Support thousands of expectant and new parents across the UK.
La Leche League Breastfeeding Helpline – 0845 120 2918
National Breastfeeding Helpline – 0300 100 0212,
Supporter line – 0300 100 0210
Supporter line in Bengali/Syltheti – 0300 456 2421
Support line in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi – 0300 330 5469
The Association of Breastfeeding Mothers Counselling helpline 0300 330 5453
The National Childbirth Trust Breastfeeding Helpline – 0300 330 0771
The First Few Hours After Birth
Birmingham Maternity Service contact details:
Birmingham Women’s Hospital switchboard: 0121 472 1377
City Hospital switchboard: 0121 554 3801
Sandwell and West Birmingham switchboard: 0121 554 3801
Good Hope & Heartlands Hospital switchboard: 0121 424 2000
Baby Buddy App
The Baby Buddy App is your personal baby expert who will guide you through your pregnancy and the first six months of your baby’s life. The app has been designed with parents and professionals to help you give your baby the best start in life and support your health and wellbeing.
Baby Buddy has:
- Fun, engaging interactive features to ‘learn without the burn’
- A video library – including tips on breastfeeding, the Small Wonders Change Programme for premature babies and mental health
- Support and advice particularly tailored to dads
- ‘Today’s information’ – personalised, bite-size daily updates
- Much more!
Safer Sleep Guidance
It’s never too early to start preparing a safe sleep space for your baby’s arrival. Knowing safer sleep advice is vital, and now is a great time to learn. Thanks to this advice, rates of sudden infant death syndrome have come down significantly. To download Safer Sleep Guidance from day one, please click here.