Becoming a parent can be daunting time. Here you will find all the information you will need to prepare for your new arrival and feeding choices.

Online antenatal course: Understanding pregnancy, labour, birth and your baby

The Solihull approach antenatal online course has been developed by registered midwives and will give you practical information about pregnancy and birth, whilst at the same time introducing you to your baby.

It explains how and why those around your baby are so important, whether you are the mother, father, partner, grandparent or birth partner. It integrates the traditional information given on an antenatal course with a new approach to starting a relationship with your baby before your baby even makes an appearance!

If you would like to register to complete the course or for more information, please call the Salford Early Help Team on 0161 686 7235.

Useful information

• Use the First Steps Nutrition Trust website for more information about eating well for you and your baby.
• Eating well for a healthy pregnancy leaflet.
• Off to the best start: important information about feeding your baby leaflet.
• How to eat healthy during pregnancy for you and your baby.
• Baby buddy app is free to download. The app is designed to help parents build their knowledge and confidence during the transition to parenthood and throughout the early stages of parenting.

Feeding your baby shouldn’t be a chore, this is the perfect time to relax and bond with your new addition. All family hubs offer face to face support and our Baby Social sessions are free to attend for advice and guidance from our UNICEF Breastfeeding Champions and other parents.

Useful information

If you want to find out more about how to feed and bond with your baby check out these websites for information and videos.

• Feeding your baby - Salford Royal
• Baby Friendly Iniative - Unicef
• Eating well for new mums - First Steps Nutrition Trust
• Off to the best start: a guide to help you start breastfeeding
• Meet other parents and carers in your area
• Breastfeeding: the first few days - NHS
• Information about breastfeeding - the Breastfeeding Network
• Advice on breast feeding and bottle feeding during Covid-19
• Foreign language resources - Unicef
• Expressing and bottle feeding advice - NHS
• First Steps Nutrition Trust

You have now reached a milestone in your babies development. The window between 6 and 9 months is for your baby to play and explore different tastes and textures. Going from milk to foods may feel daunting, here you will find advice to support you on this fun and messy journey.

Useful information

• First Steps Nutrition Trust
• Weaning
• Introducing solid foods - giving your baby a better start in life
• Eating well: the first year. A guide to introducing solids and eating well up to baby’s first birthday

By 9 months you will all be sitting down and eating family meals together. Below are some useful links to help through those fussy periods and teaching your child all about food. As your child grows get them involved in planning family meals, shopping for ingredients and allowing them to be hands on preparing food.

Useful information

• Food a fact of life - Free learning recourse for children to learn about food and where is comes from.
• Better Health - Healthier Families - A NHS campaign to get children moving and learning about healthy food choices. Can be downloaded as an app made for both parent and child, lots fun activities and recipes to choose a healthy life style.
• Feeding hungry minds - A website that informs children where food comes from and how to make home cooked meals.