Our Trust has been awarded UNICEF Baby Friendly status and, as part of retaining this status, we speak with women about their experiences after giving birth.
This will involve us asking you a set of questions about your maternity / neonatal experience. These will include the help and advice you received during your pregnancy and post birth around feeding and building a close and loving relationship with your baby.
Please do not worry if you don’t understand all the questions you are asked. We are not testing you, we are testing our staff.
This page is to explain the potential questions you may be asked.
What kind of questions may I be asked?
Below are some of the kinds of questions you may be asked as part of our assessment and why we believe these are important.
Did the midwives advise you to talk and play music to your baby while you were pregnant, and to encourage your partner and any other children to do it to?
This has been shown to help your baby respond to you after they have been born and to help with brain development during pregnancy. Find time to relax, stroke your tummy and think about your baby.
As new parents did you get offered the chance to hold your baby in skin-to-skin contact as soon as possible after birth, for at least an hour?
You may decide you don’t want to do this but it’s important we offer it. You should be offered the opportunity to give your baby or babies a first feed in skin contact as your baby will be calmer and feed better.
We will ask you as parents if you have been given information about the importance of keeping your baby close to you at all times, on-going skin contact, cuddling, talking to them and not leaving them to cry for prolonged periods.
It is not possible to spoil your baby by picking them up. This is called responsive parenting and this has been proven to make babies calmer and aids the way the brain develops in a new baby.
Feeding
We may ask you if you were supported to breast or bottle feed your baby.
The midwives should inform you in a meaningful way of the benefits of breastfeeding so you can make an informed choice regarding feeding, and they will also advise you on how to get breastfeeding off to a good start.
Questions you may be asked include:
If breastfeeding, did you get help to position and attach your baby on the breast?
Have you been shown how to express your milk by hand, and do you know the signs to tell you baby is getting enough milk?
Has a member of staff checked that your baby is getting enough milk? This is done by doing a breastfeeding assessment, which can be found in your baby’s purple postnatal notes. The midwives will ask you about wet and dirty nappies, how you feel feeding is going, as well as weighing your baby.
If you choose to bottle feed, you may be asked the following questions:
Has your baby had any formula supplements and what was the reason for this?
If bottle feeding did a member of staff show you how to hold your baby for bottle feeding and how to pace the feeds keeping your baby close, having good eye contact?
How to make feeds up safely using the Department of Health (DOH) guidance leaflet that you were issued with.
Did midwives ensure you are using the correct milk that is age appropriate to your baby? There are NO benefits to using other milks unless advised by a health professional.
Date of Issue: November, 2021
Review Period: November, 2024