By Dr Sarah Turner & Catherine Hine, The Breastfeeding Network
The last week has been a busy one for government announcements! Hot on the heels of the 10 Year Plan for the NHS, DfE published its Best Start in Life strategy.[1] Within it is a pledge to spend £500m to open 1,000 “Best Start Family Hubs” from April 2026. The plan is that every council in England will have a Family Hub by 2028.
Although announcements from different government departments, the overlap for us is obvious. Do also read the blog with BfN’s initial views and hopes for the NHS 10 Year Plan.[2]
We agree with the imperative to close the gap between the poorest and most affluent children in society,[3] and we know that Sure Start (the scheme that this seeks to recreate after a prolonged period of spending cuts) was phenomenally successful in starting to bridge that gap.[4]
To have the lasting impact that everyone hopes for, this expansion must be backed by sufficient and sustained investment in those services families rely on and want to access — this includes, as the recent evaluation of Family Hubs has confirmed, infant feeding support.[5] It must also be delivered in a way that truly meets the needs of the communities it is intended to serve.
BfN is a network of almost 1,000 mothers from all walks of life, who actively combine lived experience with specialist training in infant feeding. This network of volunteers and staff work alongside families and healthcare professionals to co-design and deliver infant feeding support services across the UK, specific to the needs of the communities they are part of. In the case of the National Breastfeeding Helpline (NBH), we have developed a service so valuable to mothers and new families that its funding has been increased so it is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This development and delivery can only be successful by responding to evidence and feedback from the tens of thousands of women and families we engage with annually.
Parents consistently tell us they want to speak to someone who understands — someone who has both the lived experience and the evidence-based training to support them without judgement. This is vital in a country where breastfeeding rates are extremely low, not because of a lack of desire to feed, but a lack of coherent support.[6] Given the impact this can have upon a mother’s mental health, making investment in consistent and high-quality infant feeding services for all remains a particularly urgent issue.
We know from participants in the recent independent evaluation of the NBH that peer support is both wanted and valued as a service. Responses from parents showed that 72% wanted support from an independent, trained person with personal experience to draw upon; 32% want to talk through their concern before contacting a healthcare professional. 95% of respondents were satisfied with the service, and almost all would call again and refer a friend. We have similar findings when in person users are asked about their experience of using BfN services, again run by trained peers.
Some of the most frequent topics parents want to talk through are not minor questions, taking expertise and time to explore as needed. Positioning and attachment, worries about milk supply, understanding normal baby behaviour, the need to take medication and stopping breastfeeding: these can be moments of crisis or turning points in a feeding journey. Critically, they’re rarely resolved with a leaflet, a chatbot or a rushed GP appointment.
This is the strength of qualified peer support. High quality peer support complements the work of midwives, GPs and health visitors, easing pressure on the NHS by responding early, giving much-needed time and space, with an emphasis upon listening, reassuring and building confidence. This allows us to support parents to make feeding decisions that are right for them, rather than telling them what to do.
Why this matters for Best Start
Neither Best Start nor the NHS 10 Year Plan explicitly refer to infant feeding peer support. In the detail that follows, we urge government and local authorities to ensure infant feeding peer support is treated as core infrastructure and resourced as such. It is not a nice-to-have add-on.
This is an opportunity to build on existing peer support programmes, already integrated into Family Hubs through Start for Life funding. Evidence from NBH and local services can be used to design support that responds to real family needs, especially in the early days and weeks. Peer support is not – and should not be – a substitute for skilled NHS care. It’s a proven, effective and cost-efficient complement. BfN peer supporters provide timely, empathetic, evidence-based help to families in their own communities; help prevent avoidable problems escalating into physical and mental health concerns; help mothers and families achieve their breastfeeding goals and work alongside local maternity and health visiting teams to provide joined-up care.
In short, peer support simultaneously gives mothers and families the skilled support they need whilst freeing up healthcare professionals to deliver services in line with the government’s vision for the NHS.
The Best Start strategy has a welcome focus on early years. Our experience of hands-on delivery, and the evidence that we gather from parents consistently highlight the desire for support that is non-judgmental, grounded in lived experience, practical, timely and locally available.
These requirements align with the Best Start strategy. To ensure this strategy now delivers for the UK’s babies and families, implementation must build on evidence and learning like this and be properly resourced.
We’re ready to help make that vision a reality.
[1] https://beststartinlife.campaign.gov.uk/ – last accessed 09/07/2025
[2] That blog post considers the focus that the 10 Year Plan has on the incorporation of digital technologies into revitalising the NHS. This focus remains in the Best Start for Life strategy, but is not explored here.
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/07/government-children-britain-labour-early-years-provision-bridget-phillipson – last accessed 09/07/2025
[4] For examples, see: https://ifs.org.uk/news/sure-start-greatly-improved-disadvantaged-childrens-gcse-results – last accessed 09/07/2025
[5] Ecorys: Evaluation of the Shared Outcomes Fund 2 (SOF2) Family Hubs Transformation Fund (2025) (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6867d0a6fe1a249e937cbcd0/Evaluation_of_the_shared_outcomes_fund__2_family_hubs_transformation_fund.pdf) – last accessed 09/0702025
[6] World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative: UK Report 2024 (https://ukbreastfeeding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/wbti-report-final-digital.pdf ) – last accessed 09/07/2025