http://www.thriveinfantfeeding.co.uk/

Thrive Infant Feeding, Stafford Health and Wellbeing Centre, Stafford (2025)

Q: What is the address?

Stafford Health And Wellbeing Centre

12/12/2025

📢 Share this really useful guide with new parents!

There is so much to secondary low milk supply than what I could possibly squeeze into this post, but that hasn't stopped me trying!

If you are seeing my post for the first time, get following to binge my other FREE quick guides! My name is Shami and I am an IBCLC working in the Midlands, UK...this is my corner of the internet where I share my expertise with you 💚

Back to the task at hand!...

Secondary low milk supply refers to a supply that has been impacted by a factor that we can potential impact or modifiy.

It is important to note that sometimes there are primary AND secondary causes at play. Determining this takes skill and experience so don't be disheartened if you don't know which it is, seek support!

This post is not intended to replace individual assessment and care planning, it is designed to raise awareness, understanding and to educate.

11/12/2025

💚 My name is Shami and I am an infant feeding specialist working as an IBCLC & Tongue Tie Practitioner in the Midlands, UK. I have 11 years of Health Visiting experience and 16 years of parenting tips to share with you so give me a follow for daily expert tips!

Whether you are returning to work/study or you would like to transition to bottle for whatever other reason, in order to protect your supply, expressing is a really good first step.

10/12/2025

✅️ First of all...give this reel a save for later and share with anyone who would be grateful for some tips on starting solids!

🏆 Secondly, if you are seeing me for the first time, My name is Shami and I am an infant feeding specialist working as an IBCLC & Tongue Tie Practitioner in the Midlands, UK. I have 11 years of Health Visiting experience to share with you so give me a follow!

So...tips! ...

💚 Less cutlery- Hand eye co ordination doesn't require cutlery and sensory play and exploration can help your baby become familiar and more accepting of a wide range of textures

💚 Family meals- Why cook separate? Why cook different? A simple way of bringing family meals to the table is by leaving out salt. Add salt AFTER you have cooked so that you can share your meals with the whole family

💚 Supportive high chair- a chair in which your baby slumps, or one where their feet dangle rather than rest on a footrest can prove a challenge for some. Ideally you need your baby supported comfortably in a seated position

💚 Regular small offerings- offer foods regularly through the day when you first begin solids. Now is your opportunity to introduce a wide variety of goods, tastes and textures. Increasing variety is more important than increasing volumes

💚 Open cup- my all time favourite...if you can avoid beakers then do it! Open cups are easier to clean, cheaper and available everywhere you go. Straws and free flow beakers are also a good option. Anything with a valve will require your baby to suck from the beaker like you would from a bottle..which is...well pointless

As for the sterilising...NHS guidance is that bottles DO need to be sterilised until your little one turns 12 months but plates and cutlery can just be washed with warm soapy water (one less job!)

09/12/2025

😢 Feeling sad about stopping breastfeeding may also come as a result of stopping feeding sooner than planned.

This is a situation that is sadly more common than it needs to be.

💚 If you are new to my page, my name is Shami, I am a mum of 3, and am a feeding specialist working in the Midlands as an IBCLC and Tongue Tie Practitioner. I have worked in healthcare my whole adult life and have over a decade of health visiting experience.

I can categorically tell you that too many women stop breastfeeding for reasons that directly correlate to lack of support, lack of training, lack of societal acceptance, poor government funding and aggressive marketing of breastmilk substitutes....amongst other factors that are out of their control.

Not all feelings of sadness come from hormones or ending of a journey. Sometimes they come from feelings of being let down, or letting someone else down. And that makes me so upset for them.

So what can we do?

1. Antenatal education- not just a leaflet. Enable preparation through accessible workshops and support in ALL languages!

2. Overcoming barriers- cultural, language, stereotypes, funding, capacity, hard to reach groups

3. Access to expert support right after delivery- protecting and promoting breastfeeding by getting off to a good start

4. Staff training- maintaining and developing skills and knowledge to ensure that advice and support is fit for purpose and not just one size fits all

5. Building community capacity- developing services that are accessible post birth where the most amount of trouble shooting will happen. Crucially, FUNDING these services and not relying on volunteers!

I mean...I could go on with this list. But I guess my point is made. While we cant really help hormonal shift, we can impact success through improving care 💚

08/12/2025

Note: these are family friendly suggestions only

If you agree, give me a follow! 💚

🚪 1. Remove yourself....actually leave the place...you don't need to be there. If you are bothered by baby humans doing baby human things, then you need to maybe start spending time alone to think about which species you belong to. Also, breastfeeding mothers and babies have a LEGAL right to feed where they wish...so yeah (Equality Act 2010)

👩‍🎓 2. Educate yourself...no seriously. Read a book, google, watch a youtube video..anything really. There is no excuse for ignorance in a world where we have information at our fingertips and AI available to answer our questions at the drop of a hat. You will learn that the benefits of breastmilk and breastfeeding extend way past infancy and into toddlerhood/childhood for both mother and baby

⛔️ 3. Check yourself...if you are finding it uncomfortable, self reflect and ask yourself why. Is it because you are viewing it as something other than a mother feeding her child? Are you struggling with understanding why a child over 1 is drinking breastmilk? You may want to question why it is okay for a fully grown adult to sip udder milk from a different species but not for a child to drink milk that is intended for him/her

Now...while the above suggestions may seem harsh to some. The simple truth is, I don't care. 🤣

I only care about how women FEEL in public spaces. How they are TREATED about their life choices concerning feeding and how that ultimately impacts the health and wellbeing of both mother and baby.

06/12/2025

✅️ First of all...give this reel a save for later and share with anyone who would be grateful for some tips on starting solids!

🏆 Secondly,..just so you know, I am myself writing this caption. My name is Shami and I am an infant feeding specialist working as an IBCLC & Tongue Tie Practitioner in the Midlands, UK. I have 11 years of Health Visiting experience to share with you so give me a follow!

So...tips! ...

1. 💚 Make sure your baby is ready: so around 6 months of age, sitting with support and holding head steady, picking up foods/toys and confidently taking them to the mouth

2. 💚 Soft foods that melt in the mouth or are easily squashed between thumb and index finger are best to start with. Cooking fruits is a good way to soften them if not ripe enough

3. 💚 Use a fork to mash if needed rather than blending to a puree consistency. If you want to offer pureed foods to increase exposure, then make life easier and opt for foods that would normally come in that form eg. Soups, yoghurts

4. 💚 Familiarise yourself with choking vs gagging and seek education around first aid/safety. Courses like the ones delivered by .northstaffs can help build your skills and confidence

5. 💚 Shred meats where needed and grate cheese! We often forget that there are other ways of making foods more manageable for your little one without compromising texture

Remember: giving your baby purees isnt a crime!
It's just not a necessity in most cases. Of course if your little one needs to go slow, then that is also fine. Do what works for you and your family!

06/12/2025

💚 Hi there! My name is Shami and I am a mum of 3, an IBCLC and Tongue Tie Practitioner working here in the Midlands, UK. Save this reel, comment, share...binge watch my videos...and if you would like help with feeding your little one, come join my community of Thriving parents by giving me a follow!

So have I really managed a 100% success rate in helping babies to feed better? ...ABSOLUTELY!

Let me talk you through the steps:

1. Thorough history taking...so important! I need to know about the labour/pregnancy, maternal and infant medical history, feeding history and current plan. If your practitioner is not asking these questions..RUN!

2. Observation and assessment... I NEED to see you feed..only then can I confidently make adjustments and develop a plan. How babies present in my arms is sometimes very different to how they behave when feeding

3. Care planning to the needs of the baby and not to the needs of numbers....yes we need guidelines...we need something to go by...but sometimes babies dont fit into "boxes" and that's okay! There is more than one way to reach your goals/dreams..lets pick the best one for you 💖

4. Experience...I don't think a day has gone by in the past 3 years where I haven't thought about or dealt with a feeding issue..thats a lot of problem solving!

5. Skill. At the risk of blowing my own trumpet 😛 ... I am extremely skilled in my area of expertise and this is reflected in my success rate. I don't know how to explain it...but I just know what I am doing I guess!

6. Dynamic review of interventions..I may start thinking one thing and then quickly change my mind because of new information that I have been made aware of or findings from an additional assessment. It's better to be wrong, almost there, wrong again and then spot on...than just be wrong and stick by it because you don't want to seem a fool for changing up your decision!

And thats all that I am prepared to share for now 🤣 Dont want to be giving ALL of my secrets away in one caption!

06/12/2025

✅️ You may want to save this for later!

Ways to heal a wound on or around the ni**le when breastfeeding:

🧼 1. Keep the area clean- infection can delay wound healing. You can apply breastmilk or use saline (salt water) washes if needed. Monitor for increasing pain, redness, swelling or discharge/oozing and seek medical review if concerned. Remember most creams are not suitable for use on open wounds

🛡 2. Protect the wound- try not to use any breast shells or anything wearable that may dig into the wound or surrounding areas as compression of tissues around the area can restrict blood flow and impair wound healing. Avoid disposable breast pads as fibres from these can stick to the wound

🛑 3. Prevent further damage- if the wound has been caused by a one off incident then healing is key. However, if the damage is a result of persistent poor latch then PLEASE get this looked at by someone who is trained to help correct this. If you need to take a break from feeding, keep the milk flowing through gentle expressing or hand expressing

For more useful tips, give me a follow 💚

**les **les

05/12/2025

‼️If you haven't already heard of knock out bottles, get reading!

This method of bottle preparation is unsafe and poses risk to babies for many different reasons.

Breastmilk and formula belong in bottle, unless medically indicated, nothing else should be added in.

Anything that claims to "knock out" an infant...well...it's dangerous.

A drowsy baby is not the same as a sleepy baby.

📢 Share this post to raise awareness

Have you heard of knock out bottles?

04/12/2025

The process of establishing, ongoing and ending breastfeeding is a constantly evolving process. We are adjusting to changes in our own inner state, as well as changes in our breastfeeding relationship. If you are struggling with adjusting to any of those aspects, it can be useful to talk it through with someone you trust. Have we forgotten any aspects of adjustment you went through?

04/12/2025

👌🏽Save this for later!

🤱 Expressing or pumping to create a back up supply can be tricky to navigate. Pumping too much can stimulate your supply and if this is not what your body and baby are in need of, then you run the risk of having too much milk (yes, oversupply is real!)

🏆 My name is Shami and I am a fully qualified feeding specialist working in the Midlands, UK

❓️This reel is part of my Q and A, weekly story sessions.. FREE for everyone and offer opportunity for you to ask anything you wish

💚 Want to be scrolling through judgement free advice that is realistic and adaptable to the needs of your little one? Give me a follow and BINGE!

03/12/2025

📢 So first of all...give this one a SAVE for later!

💚 Secondly.. just so that you know I am not just a self proclaimed "expert" 🤣 ... my name is Shami and I am currently working as a lactation consultant (IBCLC) and tongue tie practitioner in the Midlands, UK. I have 3 AMAZING kids who have taught me so much, combine that with 11 years experience in Health Visiting...and THAT is why I am an expert 💚

So...what to do about:

☕️ 1. Caffeine...reasons for why it may be an issue: it is a stimulant....may cause irritability in your baby. 2-3 cups a day should be fine...any more, decaff may be a good option. But you don't need to give it up.

🍷 2. Alcohol...reasons for why it may be an issue: it is a depressant... may cause drowsiness in your baby. Avoid binge drinking, limit to the occasional drink. If you want to limit exposure even further, leave 2-3 hours before breastfeeding your baby after consuming alcohol.

🦈 3. Mercury (in fish)...reasons for why it may be an issue: impacts the developing brain and nervous system...may cause developmental and health concerns. You don't need to avoid fish but you need to limit some to 1 portion a week (eg. shark/swordfish) and some to 2 portions a week (eg. salmon, sardines, pilchards)

Bonus: because not everyone eats meat/fish or drinks alcohol

🍾 4. Fizzy drinks/energy drinks..so fizzy is fine..But...look out for caffeine content and other added "ingredients" with energy drinks- probably best to avoid

🌶 5. Spicy foods...no need to avoid. Enjoy that curry! If you notice any consistent changes in stooling or irritability after a curry, go milder next time and see if it helps

Remember: most foods are okay, moderation is key, education is important. Enjoy eating and drinking and give me follow if you found this useful!

Thrive Infant Feeding

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