Baby Cafe Canning Street in peril!

Due to midwife extraordinaire Michelle Corkhill's new calling as a health visitor, the Baby Cafe at Canning Street Primary School has a questionable future! To continue as a Baby Cafe it will need another health professional trained in breastfeeding to attend the sessions. If nobody is available to fulfil this role, then the session may be downgraded to just "breastfeeding support", with the help of peer supporters still available. Still support, but not the Baby Cafe we know and love.


Good luck to Michelle in her new role, and a big thank you from all the mums and babies she's helped over the years. Come back and visit!

Baby Cafe Canning Street will be running on May 4th and 11th, 1-3pm. After that, its fate lies with SureStart....

Newcastle Breastfeeding Resource is moving!

Escaping the unreliable and generally rubbish tiscali, we are setting up a cosy pad here in blogspot. At the moment there's not much, but soon all the salient features of old-style NBR will be safely installed on this site, and we will never look back. In the meantime, you can find the old site at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/shemilt/breastfeeding_newcastle

First bit of useful information:
The Big Breastfeed 2009 is on May 15th at 11am, on the Millenium Bridge.
Bring your baby and nurse for Britain! Let's bridge Newcastle and Gateshead with milk.
More info from the SureStart Info Point on Adelaide Terrace 0191 273 9549.

More soon!

Favourite places to breastfeed in Newcastle

We think that breastfeeding mums should be able to feed their little ones wherever they like, but some mums (and some babies!) prefer somewhere quieter and more private. When you're a new mum it can be hard to find baby-friendly feeding places. Here is a list of our favourite baby feeding spots, as chosen by mums of Newcastle - comments and reviews listed at the end of the page.

Favourite place not listed? Email me, and I'll add it.


Baby-friendly cafes and restaurants in Newcastle

• The Settle Down Cafe
• The Scrumpy Willow and the Singing Kettle
• Jack Sprat's cafe
  
• Costa Coffee
• Caffe Nero
• Boskoops Cafe
• Kaffeccinos
• Fat Cats Cafe - formerly Stairway 211
  
• Cafe Revive (in Marks and Spencers Northumberland Street)
• The Sky Apple Cafe
• Pani's Cafe Bar
• Frankie and Benny's
• Hexham Tans cafe
• Brockbushes farm
• IKEA cafe
• Alnwick Gardens cafe
• Sure Start Information Point
• Brunton Babies group
• Newcastle City Library
  

Comments and reviews

• The Settle Down Cafe on Thornton Street (next to Alt Vinyl), Newcastle City Centre. Amazingly fabulous family-friendly place. Toys for the kids, high chairs, healthy yummy food and hip Apple internet cafe facilities to boot. Baby change facilities, and lots of high chairs and IKEA plastic cups etc for the kids! Gotta say I was stunned at how well thought out this place was - everything for the family in need of a quick break. www.thesettledown.com
  

• The Scrumpy Willow and the Singing Kettle on Clayton Street, Newcastle city centre. Great cafe/restaurant with delicious, healthy, locally-sourced organic food. Open until 9pm. Art exhibitions on display - really relaxed, creative atmosphere. Tasty soup-of-the-day was suitable for my little one to try, also (she loved it!). One of the few places I've personally had a really positive response to breastfeeding. They have a strong community ethos: read more on their website. Lovely!

• Jack Sprat's cafe at 413 Chillingham Road (north end), Heaton (NE6 6QU). A vegetarian cafe catering for a range of special diets (eg wheat-free, lactose-free, gluten-free, vegan). Reported as a marvellous peaceful and welcoming place, accommodating kids and breastfeeding mums with ease. Apparently there is a toy corner to keep the little ones entertained, and plenty of sofas to relax on.
  

• Costa Coffee by the Theatre Royal, Newcastle city centre. Yes, it's a franchised coffeeshop, but wow was there a postive response when my friend and her new baby patronised the establishment. She was made to feel really welcome, and the kind staff brought her order to the table for her. The manager said enthusiastically that should we need to take a pushchair upstairs (additional seating area), they'd be happy to carry it up for us! And for those of you whose babies have cows' milk colic, soya milk in your latte is available at no extra charge.

• Caffe Nero at the corner of Clayton Street and Newgate street, and the one in South Gosforth have both been used regularly by breastfeeding mums, with no complaints. Nice chai lattes, too.

• Boskoops Cafe on Old Eldon Square, Newcastle city centre. An upstairs coffee shop with a relaxed atmosphere. When I talked to a senior staff member about their breastfeeding policy, she was incredibly positive! It was nice to be so well received. Great atmosphere, but no baby change facilities.... Their website.

• Fat Cats cafe, St Mary's Place, Newcastle city centre. Student cafe, with homecooked healthy sandwich fare (paninis, soup etc) tempered with a good dose of indulgent desserts. Welcoming to breastfeeding mums, but unfortunately no baby change etc. There's a small staircase as well. Open late on Thursdays with live music! www.fatcatsne.co.uk

• Kaffeccinos on Grainger Street, Newcastle city centre. The city's premier independent coffee house, with a strong ideology of courtesy and respect. They have some scrumptious food on offer - gourmet coffee, milkshakes, artisan breads, salads, soups and sandwiches - with organic and fair trade stuff available. www.kaffeccinos.com
  

• Café Revive in Marks and Spencers, Northumberland Street, Newcastle city centre. One mum told me that she never had to use the just-OK baby-feeding room in Marks and Spencers, as all of her baby-tending needs were sorted out in the café. Cafe Revive (a chain) is listed in the Baby Friendly Britain guide as being a breastfeeding-friendly chain.

• The Sky Apple Café (formerly the Blue Apple Cafe), on Heaton Road, Heaton. Colourful family-friendly vegetarian café, with a delicious and eclectic menu. Bohemian and arty, the establishment has a box of toys to entertain young diners. High chairs available, and a basic baby change area.

• Pani's Café Bar, High Bridge Street, Newcastle city centre. Lovely family-friendly atmosphere, with a fuss made over cute babies! High chairs available, although no proper baby change facilities.

• Frankie and Benny's is a chain of restaurants (there's one on Clasper Way, Swalwell, Gateshead) that has listed itself in the Baby Friendly Britain guide, as a chain that welcomes breastfeeding customers. We've fed our babies quite happily there, and enjoyed their Italy-meets-New-York menu.

• Hexham Tans café, 13a St Mary's Chare, Hexham town centre. Not in Newcastle, but enough people mentioned that it was a nice place to feed your baby, that I thought I should include it. Relaxed atmosphere, nice food, mostly vegetarian, affordable.

• IKEA's restaurant and café, Metrocentre retail park, Gateshead. The store has a baby changing room, which I haven’t tried, as all of my baby-sorting-out needs have been comfortably met in the café and restaurant. Very family-friendly, as this is their main target market. High chairs, food warmers, lots of places to sit, including some tucked away. No one has batted an eyelid when I’ve fed my sweet baby there. Note: for those of you wanting a quiet place to feed your little one, but don't want to be stuffed away in a nasty baby-change, the IKEA restaurant has a brilliant "Baby Oasis": an area in the restaurant with a little screen around it, enclosing a comfy IKEA chair, side table, rug etc. Not an advert for their furniture, honest...

• IKEA, being family-friendly as they are, also has a couple of traditional, somewhat toilet-like baby changes: one near the front door, and one near the restaurant. Apparently each has a chair, if you would ever choose to nurse your baby there rather than in the way-way-way-better restaurant nearby.

• Brockbushes farm, at the Corbridge roundabout on the A69. Sure it's not in Newcastle, but what a brilliant place to have a family outing! A pick-your-own farm, with tons of varieties of strawberries, raspberries, goosberries, etc. The farm shop sells all sorts of lovely treats, and there is a very nice coffee shop which is breastfeeding-friendly. Baby change facilities available.

• Fenwicks powder room, 3rd floor, Fenwicks department store, Northumberland street, Newcastle city centre. Nice sitting area, with upholstered chairs, desks and mirrors. Really meant for putting on your makeup, but mums use it to feed as well. Baby change facilities nearby (with a bench available for feeding as well).

• John Lewis parents room, 1st floor, John Lewis, Eldon Square, Newcastle city centre. Really good baby change facilities, with a breastfeeding area in a separate adjacent room. Very nice atmosphere for feeding, with a bottle warmer (if you're into that sort of thing) comfortable chairs and relaxed lighting.

• Mothercare World, Belvedere retail park, Kingston Park, Newcastle north. Of course Mothercare would have to do this well! Well-provided nursing room with posh comfy chairs (which Mothercare also sells…), a water cooler and paper towels available.

• Debenhams, Metrocentre, Gateshead. I've been told they have a parents' room. More info? Email me.

• Marks and Spencer's baby room, 1st floor, Marks and Spencer's, Northumberland street, Newcastle city centre. Well, at least they have a baby room. The breastfeeding cubicle, with a fairly austere chair in it, is right next to a toilet cubicle (for children’s use). Baby change facilities are right there. It doesn’t smell too bad, but really, we expected better from M&S… go on - write to them and put them straight! NB Apparently there's a second toilet-like baby change with a chair downstairs, next to the children's clothing section.

• Tesco Extra (near the main entrance), Kingston Park, Newcastle north. These guys only made the list because a) they have a “baby room”, and b) it has free nappies. A baby change with a chair in it. Not romantic. Send these guys a letter too.

• The Metro Centre, Gatehead. To the right of the Debenham's entrance, in the Red Quadrant. Bench-style seating, tiled walls (so a little noisy) - functional. There's another baby-feeding area in Cafe Revive, within the Marks and Spencers.

• Debenham's at the Metro Centre apparently has a baby change with some OK chairs, on the ground floor near children's clothing, which is "clean and reasonable". Really these places could do so much better!!!

• Alnwick Gardens cafe, Alnwick, Northumberland. Sure it's not in Newcastle, but it's a lovely day out, and the really positive reception for one breastfeeding mum who spoke to me was worthy of mention. You don't have to pay to go to the gardens, in order to enjoy the cafe. Although they don't yet have a breastfeeding area, they offered the mum screens if she wanted them, and made sure she was comfortable. Fancy food listed on their sample menus. Very clean baby change facilities available too.

• Sure Start Information Point on Adelaide Terrace, Benwell NE4 8BE. Great family resource point has lovely breastfeeding chair, play area for the little ones and free nappies. What more could you want? Water? Yes, there's a water cooler too.

• Brunton Babies at St Aidan's Church, Princes Road Gosforth NE3 5RL. For babies under one year only - breastfeeding-friendly parent and baby group: relax and chat over a cuppa! Babies enjoy a wide range of toys and the group regularly has taster sessions from baby massage to have a go pottery sessions. More info on their website www.newcastletoddlers.co.uk. Monday and Friday from 945-1145am, at a cost of £2.

• Newcastle City Library on Princess Square in the city centre. They have a basic parents' room with seats next to a baby change (not ideal! who wants lunch in a place smelling of nappies!) but also a spacious and pleasant cafe which is apparently nice for nursing in. THIS JUST IN: The City Library are hosting our breastfeeding photo exhibition during breastfeeding week at the end of June! Bring along your baby and become part of the artwork!
  

Favourite place not listed? Email me, and I'll add it.

Breastfeeding Awareness Week 2009: May 11th-17th

Lots of great events organised for Newcastle: more information from Natasha Moulding at SureStart Bridgewater (0191) 2747308. Have we missed an event listing? Let me know.

The breastfeeding drop-in sessions listed will all be celebrating: everyone welcome. Note: The regular breastfeeding support sessions not listed here should still be running - but they haven't told us about organising anything special that week.

Monday May 11th

• 10:30am-2:30pm Information stand at the ante natal/ scanning unit at the RVI
• 1-3pm Baby Café at Canning Street Primary School - Benwell NE4 8UE
  

Tuesday May 12th

• 10:30am-2:30pm Information stand at the ante natal/ scanning unit at the RVI

Wednesday May 13th

• 9am-1pm Breastfeeding awareness event and baby social Throckley Primary Care Centre

Thursday May 14th

• 10-11:30am Breastfeeding drop-in at the Lemington Resource Centre NE15 8DE
  
• 1-3pm Baby Café at St Martins Centre - Walker/Byker NE6 2RJ
  

Friday May 15th

• 11am-1pm the second annual Big Breastfeed - on the Millenium Bridge, with bunting. Bring your babies and nurse for Britain. More information here.

SureStart are asking people to help make the bunting for the Big Breastfeed: Anybody who is interested in creating a piece of the bunting is welcome to contribute to this great event. It should represent what breastfeeding means to you - eg. a time, a picture, a saying - anything personal to you - use your imagination. Each piece needs to be a triangle of fabric, with sides 30cm in length. You need to get it to Natasha ((0191) 2747308) by Friday 1st May.

Newcastle Breastfeeding Resource is moving!

Escaping the unreliable and generally rubbish tiscali, we are setting up a cosy pad here in blogspot. At the moment there's not much, but soon all the salient features of old-style NBR will be safely installed on this site, and we will never look back. In the meantime, you can find the old site at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/shemilt/breastfeeding_newcastle

First bit of useful information:

The Big Breastfeed 2009 is on May 15th at 11am, on the Millenium Bridge.
Bring your baby and nurse for Britain! Let's bridge Newcastle and Gateshead with milk.
More info from the SureStart Info Point on Adelaide Terrace 0191 273 9549.

More soon!