Please ask your midwife about antenatal colostrum harvesting.  There are many reasons why you might choose to do this, regardless of your feeding goals. It is of particular benefit where your baby is at risk of having low blood sugars after birth for instance, if you are diabetic or taking certain medications.  Your midwife will give you a pack with all you need to get started and explain when it is safe to do so.  Colostrum is the first milk produced by your body.  This starts in pregnancy as your body prepares for the birth of your baby. It is…

Wye Valley NHS Trust is the provider of healthcare services at Hereford County Hospital, which is based in the city of Hereford, along with a number of community services for Herefordshire and its borders. We also provide healthcare services at community hospitals in the market towns of Ross-on-Wye, Leominster and Bromyard.  The Trust exists to improve the wellbeing, independence and health of the people we serve. Our workforce of around 4,000 provides a range of specialist and generalists functions. We have strong clinical network connections with trusts in Birmingham, Worcester, Gloucester and Cardiff. With an annual turnover of around £400…

Maternity triage phone number - 07990 986517, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We have introduced a new telephone system within Maternity Triage to reduce unnecessary wait times and improve patient experience by allowing calls from women, birthing people and their families to be prioritised. The contact number for Maternity Triage remains the same. However, all calls in to the new system from 6 May 2025 are now recorded for staff training, audit and monitoring purposes.  How to find us Maternity Triage is located on the second floor at Hereford County Hospital. Follow the main corridor from the main entrance…

The maternity ward is located on the second floor at Hereford County Hospital. If you are not wishing for an early discharge from Delivery Suite or if you and your baby need some additional monitoring or support with feeding then you will be transferred to Maternity Ward shortly after birth. When you arrive a midwife will be assigned to care for you and they will come and introduce themselves. There are also Maternity Support Workers and Healthcare Assistants on the ward who can support you and help you with baby cares. Below is some useful information about how the ward…

Birth Story 1 – An emergency caesarean section ‘I had my daughter 7 weeks early on the 7th January 2022 by category 1 caesarean section. I had come in during the middle of the night for monitoring as baby’s movements felt very off. I had felt her move, but my gut instinct was telling me something was wrong. Thought I'd just go in and she would be fine on the monitor, put my mind at rest and I could go home to bed. Turned out baby was in distress and within an hour of being on the monitor, I had…