Infant Feeding Practioner

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 6 Midwife to join our friendly and innovative Infant Feeding team. We are looking for an experienced, passionate and enthusiastic individual to assist with the maintenance of the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) Stage 3 Accreditation, thereby ensuring the infant feeding services within the SWFT are of the highest standard possible. The post holder will work closely with the Infant Feeding Co-ordinator, midwifery and neonatal teams as well as external agencies.

The role of the Infant Feeding Midwife is multifaceted. It involves providing expert clinical infant feeding support to women and babies who experience challenges in their feeding journey within the Maternity Unit, the Children’s Ward and the Community and triaging referrals to the specialist Feeding and Tongue Tie Clinics.

In addition the role involves supporting the Infant Feeding Co-ordinator in the delivery of multidisciplinary teaching and audit of Infant Feeding services in order to maintain the UNICEF BFI Stage 3 accreditation.

The role of the Infant Feeding Midwife is to promote the uptake and duration of breastfeeding in accordance with Unicef Baby Friendly (BFI) Initiative Standards by ensuring the multidisciplinary team is appropriately educated and mothers/parents are well informed and have access to skilled feeding support whenever they need it.

The Infant Feeding Midwife will be an experienced, competent practitioner who will take responsibility for ensuring the multi-professional team provide high quality evidenced based infant feeding support to pregnant women/individuals, mothers/parents and their babies. The post holder will provide visible support to staff and parents in the clinical areas to ensure the successful initiation and continuation of relationship building and breastfeeding.

Come and join a Trust rated Outstanding by the CQC. South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust have been rated as outstanding following our latest inspection by the CQC and we are recruiting new staff to come and help us improve even further.

We provide services across Warwickshire and beyond ranging from Hospitals in Warwick, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Royal Leamington Spa and Shipston-on Stour to Community Services across the county. We are a progressive, expanding organisation with great ambition around improving quality, integrating pathways and delivering high levels of productivity.

Our values can be summed up in one sentence. We are ‘Trusted to provide safe, effective and compassionate care’. Throughout the recruitment process you will be asked to think about how you demonstrate these values and how they impact on your work. It doesn’t matter what role you do, whether it is patient facing or not, we are all working in the same way with our values at the core.

Clinical Responsibilities

Monitor and maintain standards of care in accordance with the Trusts policies, Guidelines, Protocols and Professional Regulations.

Actively participate in the promotion of breastfeeding and increasing the initiation and maintenance of breast feeding.

Provide infant feeding support in line with the BFI Standards and SWFT Infant Feeding Policy.

Obtain skills and knowledge to advise and support midwives, neonatal nurses, nursery nurses, clinical support workers and volunteers with infant feeding in line with the BFI Standards.

Ensure a high level of clinical visibility in the clinical areas, working alongside staff and supporting women.

Ensure all Maternity staff are competent in supporting mothers/parents with positioning and attachment of the baby at the breast and assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of infant feeding.

Have the skill to recognise feeding complications and deal with clinical problems in a safe and appropriate manner including making appropriate feeding plans.

Provide support to women with complex feeding difficulties in a clinic setting (following appropriate training).

Liaise with and advise members of the multidisciplinary team on the individual needs of mothers in relation to infant feeding and ensure that each mother has access to appropriate services.

Make direct referrals to the Infant Feeding Coordinator, consultant obstetrician, paediatrician, clinical psychology department as determined by the health needs of the mother and baby.

Give information on accessing breastfeeding supporters/support groups when appropriate.

Maintain accurate and contemporaneous clinical records using computer based clinical information system when appropriate.

Identify and report any risk management issues, in accordance with trust procedures.

Ensure timely referral of babies to the Tongue Tie clinic where tongue immobility is suspected to be contributing to feeding problems.

Support the Tongue Tie Practitioners with the provision of the Frenulotomy service.

Managerial Responsibilities

Ensure that consistent care is provided throughout the maternity service in line with the BFI standar