BOSOM BUDDIES

Breastmilk is the ideal nutrition for babies, says the World Health Organisation. Research shows 80% of pregnant women in the UK want to breastfeed. Yet half have stopped by six weeks, citing feeding difficulties and lack of support*. Six months after birth, only one per cent of babies are still entirely breastfed.

Mersey Care infant feeding lead Pippa Cardwell says it’s a massive public health priority. “We talk of breast milk as a food source, forgetting it gives protection to a person right up to the end of their life.”

There’s also a psychological cost to giving up. “It’s distressing to watch women become grief stricken because they haven’t been supported to achieve their breastfeeding goals and desires. If they don’t go on to have other children to repair that grief it can stay with them.”

She knows how it feels. “I was a teenage mum and nobody ever talked of breastfeeding. I was given a steriliser and bottles as a gift. I did what society expected of me. I breastfed my other two children, but I still look back with sadness.”

Pippa says the remedy is simple – stop blaming women. Instead give them the knowledge they need to make crucial decisions for their own and their baby’s future wellbeing, and support them to do it.

“Health and other services need to do much more to help women stay motivated and prevent them stopping breastfeeding before they want to, because they’ve not had the education or support that is so important when things get tough.”

She refutes claims of professional pressure on women to breast feed. We give the facts and tailor advice. A woman may say ‘I haven’t had a drink for nine months’, and she’s surprised when we say having the occasional drink while you’re breastfeeding is OK. If there are allergies, or diabetes in the family we explain how breastfeeding can protect the baby against those things.

When we know better, we do better. If a woman knows the facts and chooses to bottle feed we’d support that decision. It’s about a woman’s autonomy over her own body. But breastfeeding would be every baby’s choice and we mustn’t lose sight of that. It’s my dream that every woman can experience the right support.”

*Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Health and other services need to do much more to help women stay motivated.

BE KIND TO YOURSELF

"A lot of our support is around having realistic expectations," says Pippa Caldwell.

I sometimes apologise to mums for the misleading image of a little milk drunk baby, plump and asleep in its crib while you sit and enjoy cake and coffee. The reality is you spend half your life covered in vomit, sanitary pad stuck to your back, suffering post natal cramps, exhausted because you’re sleep deprived. Then baby is feeding vigorously and everything she's heard about static feeding regimes doesn’t come to fruition and she struggles even more.

"We say to mums be ‘kind to yourself.’ It’s OK to sit in your pyjamas, to crumble now and again, but ask for help and know that it will pass. You’ll look back and say ‘I don’t know how I got through that – but I did’.” “We help mums to understand why babies feed. A newborn baby will feed between eight and 10 times in 24 hours – more often when they go through a growth spurt. The mum is constantly making antibodies so they know to go back for more.

“Babies feed for comfort too, just to be held. And in hot weather they’ll take shorter, more frequent feeds, to quench their thirst. Knowing all these things can help mums understand and be gentler on themselves.”

We help mums to understand why babies feed.

The Feelgood Factory support group links mums with volunteers who can give advice based on their own experiences.

THE EUREKA! MOMENT

Understanding how to position your baby for feeding and attaching to the breast can be the difference between succeeding and stopping breastfeeding through pain or poor milk flow, says Pippa. That’s where breastfeeding support groups play a vital role. “Midwives and health visitors support mums, but it can be difficult to explain positioning if the baby isn’t ready to feed. Our breastfeeding groups run for a few hours, we wait for the baby to be ready and spend time explaining. It’s a Eureka! moment for both mum and a professional or volunteer – that small tweak that means the pain stops and the milk flows. Just repositioning the baby or mum can be the difference between stopping breastfeeding or being motivated to carry on.”

The Feelgood Factory support group links mums with volunteers who can give advice based on their own experiences.

ONE VOLUNTEER...

A team of volunteers in Sefton, Merseyside, has been a lifeline to mums through the pandemic. Sefton breastfeeding support group links mums who have breastfed their children, with those needing support. They’ve just begun face to face meetings again – during lockdown volunteers supported mums through phone and video calls. A Facebook group provided constant contact and removed the sense of isolation many mums were feeling.

Volunteer coordinator Carol Miles is proud of her team’s readiness to give their time during difficult times. “We’ve worked really hard to stay in touch with our families and the feedback has been amazing. Our volunteers are incredible. They even managed to recruit 15 new mums during lockdown!” The Facebook group has been a huge success. One mum wrote: ‘The Facebook group is really useful to communicate with other mums when you need an answer at silly o clock, or you can't talk on the phone because your baby is asleep or being held whilst feeding and the noise would disturb them. It was a godsend to me, my baby was five months old when lockdown started and I was completely cut off from other mums face to face…’

Contact Sefton breastfeeding support group on: 07921 388 535 or 0151 291 8010

MY BABY WAS ALLERGIC TO MY BREAST MILK

Bernadette volunteers to help other women overcome difficulties and empower them to persevere to achieve their breastfeeding goals.

After extreme challenges feeding her son Leo, now five, she wanted to ‘be educated to help other women’.

When Leo was born, Bernadette and partner Alison were determined he would be breastfed. But the little boy screamed in pain after every feed. Advice from friends and professionals was to give up. With a family history of breast cancer and feeling a strong instinct to carry on, she researched extensively and discovered Leo was allergic to 14 different food products, from soya to beef. So she removed them all from her diet and Leo became a contended baby, reaching all his milestones. When Leo contracted meningitis and had to have a spinal tap, Bernadette stayed at his bedside and fed him. “Doctors said he should have top ups of formula, but the nurse overruled and helped me express. She empowered me to carry on.”

Her resolve continued when she herself needed surgery, with Alison bringing Leo to Bernadette’s hospital bed. Leo finally self weaned from the breast at two, helped by the designation of a living room chair as the feeding chair, which he would go to and pat if he was hungry!

“It was important to me and that’s why I volunteer. If a woman wants to breastfeed there will be challenges, so we should do everything we can to make sure she can fulfil her wish.”

A LISTENING EAR

Infant feeding lead Collette Palin never asks an expectant mum how she intends to feed her baby.

“She may not have even thought about it so we wait, encourage skin to skin contact, see how she feels.

We’ll ask what she understands about breastfeeding, which may be based on what she’s heard rather than facts.

We’ll give her the most up to date information and reassure her that if she does choose to breastfeed we’ll support her.” Collette leads Knowsley’s Bosom Buddies, a team of four workers trained in infant feeding, who offer support from before birth for up to three weeks before handing over to Homestart.

Contact Bosom Buddies: 0151 244 4387

WE KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE

HomeStart Knowsley Breastfeeding support worker Helen Bushell supports mums with any feeding options parents choose to explore. She and her team offer a listening ear on all aspects of parenthood and signpost to other groups.

“We may be professionals but we’re all mums ourselves, we’ve all had those experiences, we know what it’s like.”

Helen is grateful for the support of volunteers like Sarah Godenho. The mum of three was shocked to be told that her breastfed baby was failing to thrive. "I knew she was well, just small.

But I had no family close by to ask. My GP confirmed my thoughts and that made all the difference. I had completely different experiences with my other children so I can see situations from all sides.”

Contact Knowsley Homestart: 0151 244 4387