Equipment and Information that can help the GP in supporting Infant Feeding
- Gestational calculator/weeks to months converter (click here for an example)
- Recent infant weight plotted/infant weighing scales
- Infant’s Personal Child Health Record
- Knitted/crochet breast for hand expressing demonstration
- Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative Breastfeeding Assessment Tool
- NCT : Whats in a Nappy? Information Sheet
- List of Guidelines and National Contacts
Read Codes
There are at least 80 Read Codes pertaining to infant feeding. Appropriate coding of feeding-related scenarios could help to identify trends and improve data collection and audit. Infant feeding status and problems can and should be coded in the same way as other clinical situations.
Useful codes:
- A cluster of codes starting 64.. allow coding of how the infant is fed at various ages e.g. ‘breast fed at 6 months – 6441’, ‘breast and supplement fed at 3 months – 6433’. Use of this cluster provides multiple options for accurately recording feeding methods and can be integrated into templates, for example those used for the newborn or 6-8 week checks.
- A series of codes starting Xa4 are available for latch-related entries. These could prove useful particularly in areas where there is integration of clinical systems between GPs and health visitors, midwives and infant feeding co-ordinators.
List of Useful Contacts for the GP Supporting Infant Feeding
- Local Health Visiting Team
- Local Breastfeeding Peer Support Organisations/Drop in Clinics/Baby Cafes
- National Breastfeeding Helpline
- National Infant Feeding Support Organisations
- Local Childrens Centre
- Local Infant Feeding Lead (the Community Infant Feeding Lead if your area has one)
- Local IBCLCs
- Breastfeeding Network Drugs in Breastmilk Information Service
- UK Drugs in Lactation Advisory Service (UKDILAS)
- Local Medicines Information Service
- Local Tongue-Tie Dividers and your local NHS tongue-tie division referral pathway
- Local Pump Hire/National Pump Hire
- Local Perinatal Mental Health Team
- Local Paediatric Assessment Team
- Local Healthy Start Vitamins Supplier
