A core health care professional making a judgement about the well-being of a woman or infant.

A woman who has received specific training in counselling skills to provide support to breastfeeding women.

Support offered by women who have themselves breastfed, are usually from similar socio-economic backgrounds and locality to the women they are supporting and who have received minimal training to support breastfeeding women.

A named health care professional who is responsible for organizing the care of a woman and her baby during any stage of the postnatal period.

Mother and baby as a couple or pair.

Action based upon assessment of a woman or infant which may require referral or additional competencies to provide treatment.

Breast milk feeding without supplementation in the form of other solid or liquids.

First contact after the end of intrapartum care.

Modified cow's milk or modified soy liquid used for infant feeding in lieu of breast milk.

Clinically educated and certified individual who provides postnatal care for a woman and/or her baby; most commonly midwives, general practitioners, health visitors.

A healthy baby should have normal colour for his/her ethnicity, maintain a stable body temperature, pass urine and open his/her bowels at regular intervals. A healthy baby initiates feeds, sucks well on the breast (or bottle) and settles between feeds.

A healthy baby is not excessively irritable or tense and is not excessively sleepy or floppy. The vital signs of a healthy baby should fall within the following ranges:

• Respiratory rate normally 30–60 breaths per minute
• Pulse rate, normally between 100–160 in a newborn
• Body temperature in a normal room environment of around 37 degrees Centigrade (if measured)

The hardening of a normally soft tissue or organ.

An individual who has received appropriate training and work under midwife or health visitor supervision in hospital or community postnatal care teams, providing basic care and support for women and their babies.

Presumed to be the biological parents and primary carers of an infant, although it is recognized that this term may include other carers, such as grandparents, foster or adoptive parents, etc.

Individuals in a relationship, who may be of either sexual orientation.

A woman who has herself breastfed, is from similar socio-economic background and locality to the women she is counselling and who has received specific training in counselling skills to provide support to breastfeeding women.

Care during the first 6–8 weeks after birth.