Learn about different options for feeding your baby and support with weaning.
Feeding your baby
Most mums will be invited to breastfeed their baby at birth. Breastfeeding gives your baby all the nutrition they need. To learn more about breastfeeding, go to our breastfeeding page.
Some parents choose or need to bottle-feed their babies, using formula feed.
Information on formula feeding can be found at
- Bottle feeding (NHS Best Start in Life)
- Infant formula and responsive bottle feeding: A guide for parents (UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative)
- First Steps Nutrition Trust- Infant milks: A simple guide to infant formula, follow-on formula and other infant milks [PDF]
- NHS- Sherwood Forest Hospitals Patient information leaflet library
- NHS- Nottinghamshire Healthcare How to make up baby formula (NHS)
Feeding your baby at night
Find links to expert advice on what to expect with night-time feeding, how you can make this easier, and some tips with coping with having less sleep on our breastfeeding page.
Weaning
When to start weaning
Lots of parents wonder when and how to start weaning their baby (introducing solid foods) - with so much conflicting advice available, it can be very confusing.
You should wait until your baby is around 6 months old - this gives them time to develop properly, so they can cope with solid food.
The Best Start in Life Ready or not weaning quiz can help you to check if your baby is showing the signs they are ready for weaning.
Learn top tips for weaning in this NHS Start4life 2-minute 30second video:
This Better Health Start for Life weaning wall chart is a resource to use at home with helpful tips on weaning and a timeline to help show what might be happening at different stages between the ages of 6-12+ months.
Download, Better Health Start for Life weaning wall chart [PDF]
What to feed your weaning baby
Find out what foods to give your baby at different ages from 6 months until over 12 months.
Time to start solid foods (Easy read guide). This guide includes tips on when to start your baby on solid food, how much your baby needs, what you need to get started, and some food suggestions to try.
Download, Better Health Start for Life Easy Read, Time to start solid foods [PDF]
If you are weaning your child as a vegan, the Eating well: vegan infants and under-5s guide from provides information on how to support vegan infants and children to eat well.
Download the Eating well: vegan infants and under-5s [First Steps Nutrition Trust]
For more information
- Contact your local Family Hub Team (Nottinghamshire County Council)
- Contact Healthy Family Team [NHS]
- Take a look at the Weaning (NHS Best Start in Life)