"We got so much more out of breastfeeding support"

At 1 day old we discovered that our baby girl had a tongue tie which made it extremely painful to breastfeed. We didn't really know what to do, or how best to feed our baby.

Our midwife recommended that we visit the Birstall and Birkenshaw Baby Cafe for assistance. The Infant Feeding Co-ordinator is a specialist in tongue ties. We thought we would simply go, book an appointment for a tongue tie division and come home, but we got so much more.

We first sat down with a lovely lady called Nicola and explained the situation. She asked us about what we had been doing and talked us through all our options. We explained what we were currently doing and she observed us cup feed our baby and reassured us that we were doing everything right. That took a weight off of our minds.

She also examined our baby and confirmed the tongue tie - she set us up in a room to wait for Sharon (the Infant Feeding Co-ordinator) who is an expert in tongue ties. The whole area was set up perfectly for breastfeeding mums.

Sharon was amazing. She quickly confirmed the tongue tie and arranged an appointment for us the following week at the hospital for the tongue tie division. She gave us lots of advice on expressing and cup feeding. We were there about 3 hours in total and felt so at ease when we left.

We went back to the cafe a week later after the tongue tie division for some futher support - Sharon again helped me get my positioning right for breastfeeding so it was no longer painful.

I have recommended this service to all of my new mum friends - without it I don't think I would still be breastfeeding.