Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Support
If you are pregnant or breastfeeding and live in Newcastle, we can offer you information and support!
Our Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Services:
Best Start combines our Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Support service. We are a team of trained practitioners and volunteers working alongside midwives and health visitors to offer additional support to families in Newcastle.
Our Pregnancy Support service offers practical and emotional support throughout your pregnancy, and our Breastfeeding Support service offers information and support throughout your breastfeeding journey. We offer telephone support as well as social groups within the community.
You can call the team on 07826531575 or get in touch via our contact form.
Pregnancy Support
Our Best Start services are free, confidential, and non-judgmental.
The team is trained to provide practical and emotional support to women from conception to birth, and we offer information to enable you to make informed choices about how to feed your baby.
They can support you with:
- building strong parent-baby relationships,
- Preparing for labour and birth
- Preparing for a baby.
Pregnancy Social Groups
Bump Buds Facebook Page
Join us on Facebook and Instagram
Pop over to our Bump Buds page for ongoing information and support.
Our Pregnancy Resource page also has some really useful information.
Breastfeeding Support
We offer both group and one-to-one sessions to support you in reaching your breastfeeding goals, helping you build a happy baby, and providing guidance on returning to work. Here’s Leanne from our Best Start team to tell you more about the service we provide:
How you can get involved:
Join us at a Breastfeeding Social Group
Breastfeeding Social Groups
Our Breastfeeding Social Groups are relaxed, informal, and friendly, and offer a great way to meet others and get information and support from a member of staff or a volunteer.
What people say about our groups:
“We really could not have gotten to where we are now without the help and reassurance the Best Start team gave us, particularly on days where we felt so lost and alone. We have built up a wonderful support around us thanks to attending these groups where the workers have become familiar faces to our little girl.
Visit our What’s On page for details and information about our other family and health, and wellbeing activities.
Join us on Facebook and Instagram
Pop over to the Breastfeeding Mams Facebook page
For ongoing guidance, support, top tips, and more!
Check out our Breastfeeding resource page for other useful information:
Join our Breastfeeding Peer Support group on Facebook
Join our Breastfeeding Mams Newcastle Peer Support Facebook Group
This private group is a safe space for breastfeeding mams to ask questions and connect with other mums. It’s run by our Best Start peer support volunteers, who are ready to answer questions and provide evidence-based, research-led information.
The group is monitored every day from 9 am to 9 pm, including weekends, so you can find support outside regular office hours. Joining the group is a great way to boost your confidence and learn about our breastfeeding social groups across the city.
To join, you must live in Newcastle and have a Facebook account. Click the link to request access, you’ll be asked a few questions before becoming a member.
Download our fantastic free A to Z of Breastfeeding
Download, print, or share our A to Z of Breastfeeding
This is a must-read if you are breastfeeding, planning to breastfeed, or even if you are unsure about the benefits of breastfeeding!
Our Best Start team has put together this extensive guide to all things breastfeeding to help and support you on your feeding journey. In this straightforward and easy-to-read guide, you’ll find the answers to many common questions and issues, and it provides up-to-date information, guidance, and practical solutions.
Download it and share with anyone you think would find it useful!
Become a Breastfeeding-Friendly Business:
Download our Breastfeeding Friendly Business brochure and covering letter to find out more about the scheme, what it involves, the benefits of joining, and contact details.
Healthworks Best Start Volunteers
Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers
Our Best Start Volunteers play a vital role in what we do. Many have previously used our services themselves and found the support invaluable, which inspired them to help other women in the same way.
All our volunteers receive training to provide antenatal and breastfeeding support to mothers and families.
To hear directly from some of our wonderful volunteers, check out our “Meet Some of Our Volunteers” playlist on YouTube, where they share their personal experiences of volunteering with Healthworks and explain why they got involved.
You can find out more about volunteering at Healthworks here.
Hot Topics…
Throughout the year, we’ll be sharing popular discussion topics and answering common questions from breastfeeding mothers.
Claire is here and talking about… skin-to-skin contact
View our other recent Talking About topics:
- Claire is talking about hand expression
- Leanne is talking about breastfeeding during Ramadan
You may also be interested in:
Our Improving Wellbeing page too, as it has lots of information, tips, and resources to help with relaxation and positive mental wellbeing.
Our Stop Smoking services, if you are a smoker and need support to quit, we can help and support you. Find out more.
Finding out more about our Pre-school. We offer places for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds.