It’s great that you are intending to breast feed and I hope that you will find that you carry on breast feeding a bit longer than you intended.

Breast feeding is the the best way to feed your baby, it’s exactly the right temperature and a perfectly balanced food. Your baby will be healthier and less likely to get ear infections, tummy upsets/childhood diabetes, allergies… the list is endless. You too will benefit as you will get your figure back sooner as breast feeding uses lots of calories. You are also less likely to get certain cancers and brittle bones in later life….and more besides.

But of course it’s your choice and if you do choose to give artificial milk, you will find the amounts a baby needs per feed on the tin or packet. Usually a very new baby will have between 10-30ml per feed but it is not an exact science and the amount increases frequently as the baby grows.

I would suggest waiting till you have had the baby and then asking your midwife or Health Visitor for advice on amounts as they will know how much your baby weighs.

I’m so sorry to hear about your miscarriage. As you have found, you can have a positive pregnancy test soon after a miscarriage.

You are quite right in thinking that this is more than likely to be the aftermath of the miscarriage rather than you being pregnant. Sometimes it takes a while for the hormones in your body to adjust to the fact that you are no longer pregnant.

If you haven’t already seen your GP it would be wise to do so soon just to make sure that everything is OK. If need be you can be referred to your local early pregnancy clinic (who also look after women who have had miscarriages). I hope this is of help to you.

It is not uncommon to get a urine infection in pregnancy but it is more unusual to get a kidney infection. You should seek advice from your midwife or GP as soon as possible because untreated urine infections can lead to kidney infections.

Either infection can make you quite ill and sometimes cause premature labour. Kidney pain is usually (though not always felt below the ribs but in your back below the ribs, not at the front).

The pain you have needs to be investigated in a maternity unit or at your doctors surgery. Something like this cannot be diagnosed by e-mail.

You don’t need to do anything. Very few babies come on their due date. You just need to wait until you have signs of going into labour which could be from now or up to two more weeks.

Most hospitals offer women an induction of labour (where labour is artificially started at around 12 days after your due date if you haven’t gone into labour). You should make another antenatal appointment with your midwife for 41 weeks (that is, when you are one week past your due date).

If you need further advice before then you should talk to your midwife or ring your local maternity unit.

My advice would be to not use it at all as we do not know the possible effects in pregnancy. There is some anecdotal evidence (ie stories) that evening primrose oil may help to ripen the cervix in late pregnancy. However no pregnant woman should use it without discussing it with her midwife first.