09 Jan

Dr Wendy Jones, The Breastfeeding Network’s pharmacist, awarded MBE in Queen’s New Year’s Honours List

One of the founding members of the Breastfeeding Network (BfN), and our resident Pharmacist for over 20 years, Dr Wendy Jones, has been awarded MBE in Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for 2019.

Wendy set up the BfN drugs in breastmilk information service in 1997 after being asked to update an information pack about the safety of drugs in breast milk. Gradually the service grew and now she now leads a small team of volunteers who offer individual support to more than 10,000 families and healthcare professionals each year via email and social media.

Commenting on the award which Wendy receives for services to mothers and babies, Shereen Fisher, CEO of the Breastfeeding Network, said:

“We are delighted with the news that Wendy is receiving this award in recognition of her work. Wendy is an inspiration to us all.  She has dedicated the last twenty years to supporting mothers and families through the drugs in breastmilk service she founded.  Day in day out, she responds to phone calls, emails and now social media messages from parents and healthcare professionals who need reliable, evidence based information about the safety of medications and treatments while breastfeeding.  The work she does allows parents to make their own informed decisions and has undoubtedly saved lives.”

A soon to be published evaluation of the drugs in breastmilk information service was overwhelmed by responses from mums and healthcare professionals when they were asked for their thoughts on the service. A mum of four said: “Wendy has saved me and my daughters many times over. I can honestly say I would have committed suicide after my second baby was born had it not been for her support to keep taking my meds and to keep breastfeeding.”

A consultant paediatrician said: “Wendy’s information is presented in a way which is accessible to non-medical mothers to understand, but also written in a way that doctors who know little about breastfeeding will take seriously.”

Wendy said: “I couldn’t be more proud than I am today that I have been awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List as Founder of the Breastfeeding Network Drugs in Breastmilk Service for services to Mothers and Babies.

“In 1995 when I wrote the first information on drugs in breastmilk I could never in a million years have imagined this happening. I followed my dreams and the opportunities given, massively supported by my family and particularly my husband Mike [pictured above with Wendy] who gave me the opportunity to leave paid work and develop my passion.

“Nothing I can do would be possible if breastfeeding advocates didn’t spread the word that you can breastfeed as normal when you take most medication or there are ways around it. So, this MBE is for all of you too for all the hard work you do in groups, on the helplines, face to face, via social media and just at the school gate or supermarket checkout. You are all amazing.

“Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments today. I’m treasuring them in my heart and taking inspiration from them to keep challenging and to carry on supporting mums, dads, grandmas, peer supporters and everyone to keep breastfeeding these special precious babies. I’m hoping that this is the beginning of a year when breastfeeding and its support gets the recognition it deserves and just maybe some funding as a public health issue.”

Earlier this year Wendy was also awarded a Points of Light award by the Prime Minister.

Wendy’s story

Over the past 40 years, Community Pharmacist Dr Wendy Jones has made a huge impact on the lives of thousands of families across the UK. In this time she has helped people manage issues such as weight loss, cardiovascular disease and smoking cessation alongside her general pharmaceutical duties, but her real impact has been felt by new mothers. Wendy has dedicated her life to researching the effects of medication and medical treatments on breastfeeding mothers and their babies.

In 1997 she was one of the founder members of The Breastfeeding Network, and in 1999 she set up the Drugs in Breastmilk helpline. This telephone helpline was set up in response to the number of questions the charity was receiving from breastfeeding mums about prescribed medications. At that time there was no easily accessible, reliable information for mums who had been told to stop breastfeeding in order to take certain forms of medication. Wendy has single-handedly filled this gap.

In many cases where a mum is told to stop breastfeeding, there is no evidence to support the need for this. The mum can be left feeling she has no choice but to stop breastfeeding (even if she wants to continue), or she may choose not to take the medication prescribed. The impact of having to make a decision like this can be far reaching for some mums. In a very few cases, evidence shows the mum does need to stop breastfeeding, and then, being able to understand the reasons behind this may help the mum with this process. In most cases, the evidence shows the mum can continue breastfeeding safely and for many, to know this is possible is a huge relief.

Over the years, the service Wendy provides has grown – she now leads a small team of volunteers who offer individual support to more than 10,000 families each year via email and social media.  She is contacted by mums and families, as well as health care professionals.

She has also written more than 50 information sheets about the most common medications breastfeeding mums ask about – these infosheets cover everything from postnatal depression and anxiety to cold and cough remedies, to contraception, hayfever, headlice and norovirus.

She was awarded a PhD in 2000 and has written several books on this topic, as well as speaking at numerous national and international conferences, study days and other events.

She is extremely well known and highly regarded by breastfeeding supporters across the world. Her knowledge, patience, understanding and support has been felt and appreciated by thousands of families.

With her unending, selfless commitment and passion Wendy is an inspiration to many. Her work is so far reaching, it is impossible to measure the difference she has made.

 

For more information/press enquiries:
Contact Felicity Lambert, BfN Comms Officer felicity.lambert@breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk / 07979872301

https://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/detailed-information/drugs-in-breastmilk/

https://www.facebook.com/BfNDrugsinBreastmilkinformation/

17 Dec

Peace on Earth, goodwill to all relatives: surviving the holidays as a breastfeeding mum.

Victoria Davies, aka Mum In Make-Up, writes about how to get through the holidays even when your family’s views on breastfeeding don’t quite match up with your own.

The festive season. It means something different for everyone, but for new (and not so new) breastfeeding mums it can spell an entirely new level of stress. This year I’ll be celebrating my third Christmas as a breastfeeding mother. My little boy might not be a cluster-feeding newborn any more, but he’ll certainly be demanding boob fairly regularly nonetheless. It’s his way of reconnecting with me when things get a bit much, when he’s tired or just wants some uninterrupted time with me. If you’re new to this, unless you are spending the whole two weeks staying at home with just your little family, you’re likely to be wondering how whipping the girls out regularly is going to go down. After all, you’re going to be seeing various assorted extended family and friends and Jane-from-number-ten who always comes to the Boxing Day buffet. Here are a few things to consider before you decide to come down with a mysterious seasonal illness.

Get some boob buddies
Chances are if you’re staying somewhere for a few days there will be a few others there too. Who can you trust to have your back? If you have a partner, they should be the first person you drag onto your cheerleading team, but there are bound to be others who will get you a glass of water, plump the cushions for you and glare at anyone who dares to utter that time-honoured line “Are you still breastfeeding?” Give those people a quick message before you see them. Something like “Please help, I’m breastfeeding and Uncle Martin thinks my five-month-old should be eating steak” should do the trick. 

Dealing with nosy parkers
Chances are nobody will make a peep. After all, drawing attention to the fact your boobs are out just isn’t cricket, and most people will be polite. If, however, there are people there who haven’t seen you breastfeed yet and don’t observe the usual social boundaries, you might find yourself inundated with a barrage of questions and interest. If you feel so inclined you can discuss your choice to breastfeed, telling your audience all about current recommendations from the NHS and the World Health Organisation, and that things may have changed significantly since they had their own babies, in regard to when and how children are weaned from the breast. If someone is genuinely curious it can be nice to impart some of your gems of wisdom.

However, you don’t actually have to do any of this. It’s not your job to be Google, and if you don’t want to be drawn into a conversation about breastfeeding, especially if you’re dealing with truculent people who feel they have the right to question your choices, you absolutely don’t have to. Being asked repeatedly “But when are you going to stop?” can get incredibly wearing after a while, especially if “when we’re ready” isn’t quite cutting it with people who want some kind of detailed timeline.  After two years of breastfeeding, I’ve found the most helpful phrase to shut down anyone who is challenging me beyond my boundaries is “It’s working for us and we’re really happy.” It lets the person know that your choices are not up for debate. After all, this is your child. Don’t feel undermined or threatened for a second.

Do what you normally do
Does your partner usually give a bottle in the evening? Go ahead and stick to that. Perhaps Granny would like to do it; after all, some of the complaints tend to be about extended family members not getting enough cuddle time. Do you usually use a cover or scarf to feed? Keep going with that, especially if it gives you the confidence to feed whenever and wherever. Do you and your partner like to curl up together on the bed for a feed with your baby? (I ask because this is our favourite thing to do). Keep on keeping on, and enjoy that little ritual together.

Take a break
Particularly when babies are very young and going through a cluster-feeding stage, having to breastfeed almost constantly in front of everyone gathered at the Christmas celebrations can feel a bit much. Smiling at your in-laws through gritted teeth as one of them pipes up “Are you feeding her again?!” is probably not what you need right now. And here is where breastfeeding gives you the perfect excuse to take a break. Take your child off to the bedroom or to another quiet space, put your feet up and enjoy the peace and quiet. You don’t have to worry about anyone else right now; this is more important. It’s also a brilliant excuse to get away from your dad’s more strident views on politics, or to avoid eating yet another slice of Granny’s horrible cake. Breathe and enjoy the time with your baby. Barricade the door if you have to.

A breastful of milk
This is the time of year when, at its heart, we’re celebrating the birth of a baby. A baby who would have been fed from his mother’s breast. Hey, it’s even mentioned in the carols we sing every year! Every time someone questions your decision or makes you feel on edge, just take a few deep calming breaths and remember that you are part of something beautiful. So many women have done what you are doing, and have experienced that magical bond created by breastfeeding. At one time, the entire community would have helped a new mother and encouraged her. If you’re struggling, remember that you’re not alone, and you will always have help and support online or on the phone from organisations like The Breastfeeding Network. If it was good enough for Mary and Jesus, it’s good enough for you and your baby.

Merry Christmas, you brilliant woman. Well done.

14 Nov

MBRRACE-UK Report, “Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care” – BfN Response

Shereen Fisher, BfN CEO

MBRRACE–UK released their 5th report ‘Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care’. It describes the lessons learned to inform maternity care from the UK and Ireland Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths and Morbidity from 2014-2016. Here’s The Breastfeeding Network’s response. 

The Breastfeeding Network (BfN) welcomes the report. While the research has found that the number of women dying as a consequence of complications during or after

Wendy Jones

Wendy Jones, lead pharmacist, BfN Drugs in Breastmilk service

pregnancy remains low in the UK – with fewer than 10 out of every 100,000 pregnant women dying in pregnancy or around childbirth, the report highlights the unacceptable disparity in care for black and ethnic minority women. Shereen Fisher, Chief Executive for the Breastfeeding Network said, ‘The almost five-fold higher mortality rate amongst black women compared with white women requires urgent explanation and action. BfN welcome further exploration into this unacceptable disparity to ensure there is real change for black and ethnic minority women’.

A key concern, is the tragic case of a mother dying several weeks after her baby was born (Commencing treatment, dose and compliance page 39). There were delays in prescribing thromboprophylaxis because of concerns over  breastfeeding.

Dr Wendy Jones, lead pharmacist for the BfN Drugs in Breastmilk Information service, said ‘I have long feared such a scenario.  Physicians need to be aware how to check that a drug treatment is compatible with breastfeeding quickly, using evidence-based sources. The drugs in this case are widely used in the immediate postnatal period yet emergency medicine teams are often unable to access readily available evidence-based information on medication and breastfeeding as quickly as they need. The information should have been readily available in guidelines or a reference source including specialist information. The wording of the BNF: “Due to the relatively high molecular weight and inactivation in the gastro-intestinal tract, passage into breast-milk and absorption by the nursing infant are likely to be negligible, however manufacturers advise avoid” needs to be updated where the manufacturer is merely not taking responsibility in licensing the product. The removal of the words “manufacturer advises avoid” makes the information read very differently to a busy practitioner’.

Shereen Fisher, Chief Executive for the Breastfeeding Network said, ‘This sad case highlights the need for mothers to be able to access skilled support in their local communities, with staff alert for symptoms needing attention; the mother in question had multiple ‘fainting’ episodes postnatally that were not investigated until day 44. This emphasises the need for health care professionals in all front-line services to understand how to treat pregnant and breastfeeding mothers – until this happens women will continue to be exposed to risk and potentially loss of life. It feels that no-one listened to the mother or observed her and her baby as a dyad as closely as they should have done, possibly because breastfeeding was seen as a barrier to medication. Women should not be disadvantaged in the management of acute illness just because they are pregnant or breastfeeding, and communication needs to be improved throughout the multidisciplinary team.’

To read more you can download the full report, lay summary and the infographic here: https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk/reports

06 Nov

Prevention is better than cure

Shereen Fisher, BfN’s CEO, responds to Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock’s vision for prevention released yesterday, and how it relates to investment in breastfeeding support.

The future of health in the UK is dependent on us all getting really serious about prevention[1]. Currently the NHS spends £1 in every £5 on health problems that are a direct result of our lifestyle such as obesity and poor diet[2]. We are told that not only will prevention help reduce the strain on the NHS but it will also improve all our health.

Getting serious about prevention must include getting serious about community level investment to enable all mothers who choose to breastfeed to do so, given the substantial evidence that links breastfeeding with improved health.

The Lancet[3] series on breastfeeding offers the most comprehensive review of all the evidence on breastfeeding to date and highlights breastfeeding’s role in the UK prevention agenda.

The authors state: “…how important breastfeeding is for all women and children, irrespective of where they live … Appropriate breastfeeding practices prevent child morbidity due to diarrhoea, respiratory infections, and otitis media [ear infections]. Where infectious diseases are common causes of death, breastfeeding provides major protection, but even in high-income populations it lowers mortality from causes such as necrotising enterocolitis and sudden infant death syndrome. It also helps nursing women by preventing breast cancer. Additionally, our review suggests likely effects on overweight and diabetes in breastfed children, and on ovarian cancers and diabetes [Type 2] in mothers.”

Importantly UK women and babies offer policy and health leaders an attractive opportunity. While breastfeeding rates in the UK are the lowest in the world the rates of initiation – women starting to breastfeed – have been increasing for the last 20 years (81%)[4].

Scotland’s infant feeding statistics[5] (November 2018) show signs of positive change – no happy accident but consequence of national leadership, strategic planning, partnership and sustained investment.

Women’s intention to breastfeed offers an important opportunity for health and wellbeing both for babies (next generation) and women themselves. However, individual will has to be met with support that effectively improves a mother’s breastfeeding experience and helps sustain her choice to breastfeed. Peer support can make a big difference here especially as over time it offers the chance for areas to recreate a culture where breastfeeding is familiar.  We also know that choice isn’t made in a vacuum but is heavily influenced by family members, hospital care, health care professional advice and societal views. Patient empowerment is an important theme in the vision of healthcare for the future yet women feel constantly disempowered in their efforts to breastfeed through the lack of support available to them.

With the NHS celebrating a landmark anniversary alongside £20 billion a year in extra cash now announced[6] NHS leaders will be putting forward a 10-year plan that will make crucial decisions about how the service will spend the money.

In the planning no doubt demands will be high, as cancer survival rates, mental health support, health inequalities and an aging population all vie for consideration, how should we use the government’s cash boost to tackle the priorities that matter most to us?

In the debate let’s remember the substantial benefits to health in breastfeeding for mother and baby as well as the sheer economic and environmental sense that breastfeeding makes.

In 2012 UNICEF UK[7] reported that just a moderate increase in breastfeeding rates could save the NHS millions. In 2016 the Lancet[8] series calculated that the overall savings would actually be in the order of billions, not millions, of pounds. Moreover, the measures required to support breastfeeding are relatively inexpensive and soon pay for themselves. Keith Hansen of the World Bank said …

“In sheer, raw bottom-line economic terms, breastfeeding may be the single best investment a country can make.[9]”

The potential savings into the billions are important here because we all know that the cash boost being offered by government to the NHS and social care isn’t going to be enough. While the additional £20 billion a year (in five years) has already been welcomed, the Kings Fund has pointed out, that this does not come close to the amount required to improve services after years of underfunding[10]. On social care, the budget announcements will not be able to undo the cuts in services and underfunding of local government that has already occurred. These cuts that have caused losses to breastfeeding support services, many of which are located in areas of low breastfeeding rates and run by volunteers and supported by charities[11].

Knowing how the money works to support breastfeeding is essential and it is currently hard to know this in England. What we do know is that funding for community-led breastfeeding peer support has been cut because it sits within a shrinking public health budget devolved to local authorities. Despite excellent evidence-based commissioning guidance on infant feeding for local authorities[12] breastfeeding support services in communities is entirely optional.

This has led to mothers who choose to breastfeed being unable to access local services and leaves them failed and let down. This is just too precarious a situation for a public health priority as important as breastfeeding that if better funded and supported could serve us well in the prevention of infant mortality, obesity, type 2 diabetes, ovarian and breast cancer ….

If we are going to get serious about prevention in health then there needs to be a clear strategy and leadership for breastfeeding. Government’s role is key here in taking responsibility for building an environment that promotes, protects and supports breastfeeding[13], not just for the next year but for the next 20 years.

This should include at a minimum the following very important steps many of which are recommended by National Institute for Clinical Excellence:

  • Appoint a national multidisciplinary infant feeding board or committee with strong leadership to ensure evidence on infant feeding is understood and enshrined in policy
  • Ensure that Baby Friendly accreditation becomes a minimum requirement for all maternity settings (achieved in Scotland and Northern Ireland) (NICE recommended)
  • Ensure that all mothers regardless of where they live, receive skilled evidence-based breastfeeding support, making this provision a mandatory responsibility by protecting the public health budget that protects health visiting and breastfeeding peer support workers (NICE recommended)
  • Protect all families from aggressive marketing of formula companies by enacting into UK law the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent relevant resolutions (NICE recommended).
  • Require employers to provide breaks to breastfeeding mothers to allow them to breastfeed or express milk at work.

With careful, long term thinking and action the prevention agenda offers great focus to help us plan the health and wellbeing of the UK for the future. The health of women and babies will be stronger still for joined-up planning and provision of quality breastfeeding support. Let us not forget all our responsibilities in supporting breastfeeding and ensuring that its role in the prevention agenda is fully acknowledged.

 

 Footnotes:
[1] https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2018/11/05/matt-hancock-my-vision-for-prevention/

[2] Anita Charlesworth, Chief Economist, The Health Foundation interviewed for Healthy Visions BBC Podcast / https://www.health.org.uk/Running-to-stand-still-why-20-5bn-is-a-lot-but-not-enough

[3] Breastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect (30 January 2016), Victora, CG et al, The Lancet Volume 387, Issue 10017, 475-490 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)01024-7/fulltext

[4] Infant Feeding Survey 2010 (2012), Fiona McAndrew et al, Health and Social Care Information Centre https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/infant-feeding-survey/infant-feeding-survey-uk-2010

[5] Scottish Government Infant Feeding Statistics 2017/18 http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Child-Health/Publications/index.asp#2275

[6] NHS funding: Theresa May unveils £20bn boost https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44495598 17/06/18

[7] Preventing disease and saving resources: the potential contribution of increasing breastfeeding rates in the UK (October 2012), Renfrew, M et al, Unicef UK https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/about/preventing-disease-and-saving-resources/

[8] Why invest, and what it will take to improve breastfeeding practices/ (30 January 2016), Nigel C Rollins et al, The Lancet Volume 387, No. 10017, 491-504 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)01044-2/fulltext

[9] The Power of Nutrition and the Power of Breastfeeding (2015), Keith Hansen, Breastfeeding Medicine, Volume 10, Number 8

[10] The Kings Fund, NHS Funding: What we know, what we don’t know and what comes next https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/2018/06/nhs-funding-what-we-know

[11] Open Letter on the crisis in UK breastfeeding https://ukbreastfeeding.org/open-letter/

[12] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infant-feeding-commissioning-services

[13] https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/about/call-to-action/

29 Oct

Response to the Guardian article Wednesday 24th October – Breastfeeding rate declines in England as advice goes unheeded

Image result for shereen fisherOur CEO Shereen Fisher responds to the recent Guardian article on declining breastfeeding rates.

The appalling fact that England (one of the biggest economies in the world) lags behind in breastfeeding rates often makes headline news and it did again last week. However, the suggestion in the Guardian article is that this is because current strategies employed by public health are not working, and women are not listening to the advice they are given. The generic claim that all breastfeeding rates are declining is also a bit misleading.

It is true that our national rates are low compared with other countries and that our very unequal society means that in many areas of the country to breastfeed will make you feel like a social outcast. However, broadly speaking initiation rates are good in the UK with around 80% of women breastfeeding their babies at birth. This presents an enormous opportunity to work with the early desires of women and families to breastfeed – the Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative along with improved antenatal education has made an important contribution to progress in initiation. However, then the picture becomes more complicated. More than 3 in 5 women stop breastfeeding earlier than they want to and often the emotions around not being able to breastfeed can cast a long shadow of disappointment. Whatever one makes of breastfeeding and the state of it in the UK, it is unarguable that breastfeeding matters to women and families. It is also unarguable that women and families don’t get the support they need to sustain breastfeeding.

The uneven and variable nature of support was well-depicted in the recent Channel 4 Dispatches programme – ‘Breastfeeding Uncovered’. We know that breastfeeding in the north of England, (where in some areas fewer than 1 in 5 mothers sustain breastfeeding to 6-8 weeks) is considerably more difficult than in some London boroughs where more than 4 in 5 reach the same. It doesn’t take a genius to know that the missing ingredient that helps to explain the difference is ‘support’. The sad truth is that we know that the vast majority of reasons women give for stopping breastfeeding are issues that can easily be resolved with good quality support.  Support should be honest, unique, independent, and personalised. It needs to be well-funded and it should not operate in a vacuum. It should be evidence-based and integrated with a whole system approach that cares for a women in the pre and postnatal period. Where women choose not to breastfeed or are unable then their choice should be supported and respected as well so the health and wellbeing of all babies can be upheld.

The provision of support for new mothers and their families is grossly inadequate and varies widely across the UK.  Women are very aware of the benefits of breastfeeding through health promotion but receive very little support in making breastfeeding work for them. This leaves women feeling that they have failed, but actually they have been failed by the lack of support available to them.

It’s not that advice on breastfeeding is going unheeded by families, it is that there is not enough support built in at the right time and in an organised way for women and their families to feel they can act on this advice.

We don’t have to look too far to get ideas as to what it takes to improve the situation for women and breastfeeding. Scotland, through their Programme for Government fund, have taken the key next step to invest in breastfeeding at every level, this is despite years of low breastfeeding rates. They are moving to strategic action that is rooted in the best evidence to uphold the health and wellbeing of women and babies – other countries should follow this example.

References

The UK has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world:
81% breastfed at birth but falls to 17% exclusively breastfeeding at 3 months and 1% exclusively breastfeeding at 6 months
http://www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/About-Baby-Friendly/Breastfeeding-in-the-UK/UK-Breastfeeding-rates/

Health benefits of breastfeeding are well researched and evidenced – there are benefits for both mother and child:
http://www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/About-Baby-Friendly/Breastfeeding-in-the-UK/Health-benefits/
This includes the potential to reduce infant mortality from SIDS and Necrotising Enterocolitis, Infant mortality rates in the UK are currently around 4 deaths per 1,000 live births, with babies born to younger mothers being at increased risk at 5.5 deaths per 1,000 live births:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/child-mortality-statistics–childhood–infant-and-perinatal/2012/stb-child-mortality-stats-2012.html  (accessed 17/06/2015)

The financial benefits of breastfeeding have been shown – on an individual level, infant formula is expensive for families to buy and on a national level, there are huge savings to be made in the NHS if more mothers were supported to breastfeed their babies for longer:
http://www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/Resources/Guidance-for-Health-Professionals/Writing-policies-and-guidelines/Preventing-disease-and-saving-resources/

More than 3 in 5 women stop breastfeeding earlier than they wanted to:
http://data.gov.uk/dataset/infant-feeding-survey-2010  The vast majority of reasons women gave for stopping breastfeeding are issues that can easily be resolved with good quality support.

Breastfeeding Uncovered – Dispatches
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide

Scotland – Programme for Government – Breastfeeding
https://beta.gov.scot/publications/nation-ambition-governments-programme-scotland-2017-18/

26 Oct

What Breastfeeding Looks Like

We recently appealed for photographs showing what breastfeeding looks like in your everyday lives. The response has been immense, and the photos are so wonderful and varied, showing breastfeeding anywhere and everywhere…often in some quite comical situations!

Everyone has a small part to play in normalising breastfeeding and removing the stigma that can be attached to something that should be as commonplace as eating a sandwich. This might be by feeding your child in public, or by supporting others who you see feeding, with a kind word or just a smile. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed photos for this project, it is our hope that they will be shared and seen widely and will also do their bit to help make breastfeeding the norm.

Here’s a full round up of all of the photos we received – click on each one to view the full image, and hover to see accompanying captions and comments. Unfortunately we are only a small team and are unable to accept any further submissions for this page or the original Facebook album – however if you’d like to share your image, you can do so by adding it as a comment to the Facebook album.

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This project was originally inspired by this post:
https://www.romper.com/p/what-does-breastfeeding-look-like-these-photos-celebrate-the-diversity-of-experiences-9926018

 

19 Oct

Facing Fears

Kirsty Cummins is one of our National Breastfeeding Helpline Link workers, who has written this post about her own experience of anxiety and how she is beginning to overcome it in her role as a breastfeeding supporter.  

Fear. It’s a funny thing isn’t it. Most of us live in fear of something. Chest squeezing, breath taking fear tucked away inside our breast, kept on a low burn as much as possible it can rear up and get you when you least expect it. Taking the wind out of your sail and putting you firmly in your place.

I have lived in fear nearly all my life. From small person wobbles such as the squirmy, unknown feel of the sea bed under my feet when my Mum forced me to paddle, to the terror I felt when I happened upon “Jaws” being viewed in a neighbour’s living room in all its terrifying splendour at the age of 5. (I haven’t been able to watch it since.)

As I grew older I developed an anxiety disorder. I didn’t know that’s what it was.  I just thought I was mad and panicked all the time that I couldn’t control life. Would someone die if I didn’t turn the light on and off a certain number of times, would something terrible happen to a loved one if I didn’t wash my hands in a certain way? What I didn’t realise at the time was that in trying to control life and death, stuff that I actually couldn’t control, I was unable to deal with the things that were my responsibility, such as study and relationships and other such teen angst. I would never socialise and talking on a phone has always been difficult because of the fear of the unknown and the need to keep myself tiny and unnoticed.

I have had treatment. I sought help when I couldn’t look after myself any more. And that was and is a long term project but also a wonderful thing. Through years of up and downs, undiagnosed post natal depression and other such low jinx I wished of a way to take control.

This insight into a life of worry and nervousness has made me wonder often about our fears. What fears we have as parents and how our modern life affects those to a lesser or greater degree, with instant access to answers or opinions that we used to have to seek in other ways. The need for us all to go back to trusting our instincts, hidden under a huge pile of ‘other’. The voices that live inside us, and the knowledge passed down from Grandmothers and from inside the cells in our bodies, carried through the generations, is still there but no longer encouraged in quite the same way.

Recently I have been pondering the fears we carry as volunteers supporting other parents through times of worry or uncertainty. What makes some people fearless and certain they can make a difference, whilst others hide their knowledge and instincts, terrified they might get it wrong?

My reluctance to be a helpline volunteer has always been based around fear. The fear that I am not good enough to support another person. That if I get it wrong something terrible might happen. In a bid to avoid manic light switching or some such antic aimed at being the high master of control, I avoid. Avoid. Avoid. In talking to people who wish me to support I feel unable to be honest, with them or myself and have always talked vaguely about my true feelings out of embarrassment.

A plethora of excuses may come up that loosely express my fear, but not enough to convey just how terrified I am. Our greatest defence in the fight against fear is, more often than not, knowledge. If we know more we may fear less. When the terrified abseiler is gently guided through moving themselves down the rock face passing the rope through their hands, they are guided by the words of the instructor. That knowledge from another gets them down and the feelings of elation when reaching the bottom make it all worthwhile.

When I look down into the pit of worry and feelings that I am not good enough, I don’t believe in my knowledge, or intuition or listening skills. They don’t feel good enough to guide me.

Someone very brilliant recently talked to me about voicing those helpline fears out loud. As I said how I felt it made total sense. “It sounds so silly but it isn’t silly” I said as I expressed my fear that it felt like a baby’s life was in my hands if I took a call. The ugly face of not good enough was there again, taking control and making me feel useless. But actually as I said it I realised that I do have the tools to support and with that added bonus of modern tech allowing us to signpost instantly, we have so much to give.

Fear, my old nemesis, can be thwarted if I use my greatest weapon. Honesty. Being truthful to myself about my fears and using the support I know I have available could actually get me past this block.

The warm hand of support from a helpline volunteer can and does make all the difference to new families. And that is possible over the phone. Your love, warmth and ingrained desire to be part of the supportive community – the grandmother full of wisdom just for ten minutes in someone’s life – is what you have control of and what changes lives. Yours and theirs.

04 Oct

Guest Blog by Smita Hanciles – The Power of Peer Support

Smita Hanciles works for Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust and leads the Camden Baby Feeding Service. Here’s a taster of her presentation at our conference this Saturday (6th October), on the power of peer support. If you’ve been unable to get a ticket, follow #BfNConf18 on social media to catch our updates throughout the day.

There is evidence that establishing breastfeeding can be protective of maternal mental health and aids with bonding.  When establishing breastfeeding is challenging or even unsuccessful, particularly when a mother really wants to breastfeed, the mother can be left vulnerable and at increased risk of post-natal depression. At points of such vulnerability, does having access to a trained breastfeeding peer supporter in addition to her own network of relationships provide a source of emotional co-regulation and co-learning?  Does this help increase resilience and possibly decrease the risk of anxiety and depression and any negative impact on bonding?   These are the questions we have been asking in Camden as we introduced a group of new volunteer breastfeeding peer supporters into the Baby Feeding service.

We often think of support for breastfeeding and support for perinatal mental health separately and services generally focus on one or the other.  There are peer support projects for mothers who need help with feeding their baby and there are now separate peer support projects for mothers experiencing mild to moderate postnatal depression and anxiety. However, this way of delivering care doesn’t factor in that one impacts on the other and can’t easily be addressed separately.  What would happen if we supported new mothers in a much more holistic way?  Or maybe we already do this as peer supporters but just don’t describe it as such.

Having reflected on what we actually spend our time doing in the Baby Feeding drop-ins in Camden and on the stories of mothers we support, we recently decided that instead of describing ourselves as solely providing peer support for women experiencing difficulties with feeding or establishing breastfeeding, we would emphasize that we also provide listening support to those who had intended to exclusively breastfeed but were experiencing challenges or were not able to for various reasons.  We added the Baby Feeding service to the Camden Perinatal Mental Health services register under services for the ‘mild /moderate’ end of mental health concerns. We hoped this would help with the recognition of our role in providing emotional as well as practical feeding support and as a place from which referrals to more specialist help could be made if necessary.

I recently saw a poster with the words ‘I sat with my anger long enough, until she told me her real name was grief’. Mothers struggling to breastfeed can feel angry with services that failed to provide the right support or even at themselves or their baby. However, the anger could be borne from a sense of grief over the loss of the breastfeeding relationship they had wanted or looked forward to.  They are unlikely to seek help from other mental health services in this situation but still need to be listened to and for their feelings of loss to be acknowledged as a normal response and justified.  They don’t want to be told their feelings are unreasonable because they can always just give a bottle and as long as the baby is fed, it’s all ok.  They also need support to accept and embrace a different feeding relationship from the one they had anticipated whether it is mixed feeding or bottle feeding with EBM and /or formula.

We approached the Maternal Mental Health Alliance and began a discussion about how to join up different elements of support for new mothers and how we could best train and develop our volunteer peer supporters to work in a more holistic way. This resulted in a diverse and knowledgeable working group coming together including all the main voluntary sector organisation that train peer supporters to develop competencies for the Infant feeding workforce in relation to perinatal mental health.

We know from countless stories of mothers we have supported that breastfeeding peer support has the power to change a mother’s story and experience of care. Those of us who provide peer support have the privilege to hear a mother’s story, to become part of her story as we come alongside to help empower her to find the way forward that is right for her.  Can receiving peer support help a mum change the way she views her own story?  Providing peer support can often help reframe our own stories and see them differently.   If our story was one of painful experiences or even trauma, we can often realise the pain wasn’t in vain but has provided the backdrop to another mother feeling supported and empowered.

We are now looking for ways to collect evidence of the impact breastfeeding peer support has and how it contributes to perinatal mental health. We are still very much on a learning curve with this piece of work and I hope to share more during my presentation.

26 Sep

Guest Blog by Sally Etheridge: ‘I just really wanted to breastfeed’ – How stress affects how babies are fed, and how mums feel about it.

Sally Etheridge is an IBCLC who will be giving a presentation at our conference entitled “Breastfeeding Struggles”.  Here she gives some background to the subject and explores how stress can impact on feeding journeys. Come along to the conference on 6th October to hear more – information and tickets here.

As mother to mother breastfeeding supporters, we may often be especially aware of some of the personal challenges she is facing that are affecting how she feels about life, and becoming a mum, and how these might be affecting how breastfeeding is going – and her chances of achieving her goals around feeding her baby. While there has been a shift in understanding around maternal mental health issues, and better support offered to mothers with depression and anxiety, breastfeeding supporters may recognise that many mums face challenges that we can do little or nothing to change. We may recognise too that there are many mothers who never access our groups and who are much less likely to access breastfeeding support. Poorer communities, women from  different cultures and ethnicities, those for whom English is not their first language, women facing all manner of stressful situations that may be outside our experience. Yet as breastfeeding supporters, we want every mum and baby to be able to enjoy a loving relationship, and enjoy breastfeeding, especially those mothers who always expected to breastfeed.

Leicester has high numbers of mothers like this, and Mammas Community Breastfeeding Support Programme works hard to find innovative and low cost ways to support every mum whatever personal challenges she faces. My presentation focuses on a study I carried out, talking to a number of mums who faced high levels of stress, about how this impacted on how they fed their baby – and what helped most.

04 Sep

Guest Blog by Heather Trickey – What sorts of breastfeeding peer support interventions should we be developing?

Heather TrickeyHeather Trickey is a researcher in parenthood and public health at DECIPHer, Cardiff University.  Here she writes about the importance of not just implementing peer support systems for breastfeeding mothers, but, crucially, ensuring that those systems are effective and fit for purpose.  She’ll be talking in more detail on the subject at our conference on 6th October – buy your tickets here.

 

Breastfeeding peer support is considered an important intervention for supporting women with breastfeeding and is recommended by the World Health Organisation, by NICE, and by UNICEF UK. The evidence for breastfeeding peer support in a UK context is mixed, UK experimental studies have tended to show little or no impact on breastfeeding rates. As Dr Gill Thomson (UCLAN) and I have discussed, are lots of reasons why that might be, these include poor intervention design and implementation failure under experimental conditions (Thomson and Trickey, 2013; Trickey 2013).

Some lessons for peer support design

Earlier this year we published a realist review of breastfeeding peer support interventions (Trickey, Thomson, Grant et al, 2018). We identified some key lessons for design. For example, we found intervention goals need to have a good fit with the goals of mothers, that the intervention needs to be linked into existing health care systems, that help won’t reach many mothers unless it is proactive and for UK mothers it needs to come soon after the birth, that peers need to be confident and friendly for mothers to feel comfortable, that relationships need to need to be warm and affirming, that peers supporters themselves need to feel valued, and the intervention needs to enhance rather than displace existing care.

But we also need think about peer support in the bigger picture…

The UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world, and there are big differences in rates at area level depending on level of deprivation. Our review found that we need to develop better ideas about how changes in attitudes and behaviours happen at the level of a whole community. We concluded,

“In the absence of overarching theories of change for infant feeding behaviour at community level, it is difficult for intervention planners to target breastfeeding peer support interventions to maximum benefit”.

So, what is the longer term objective for society? And what needs to happen, where, why and for whom and in what order to meet that goal? Should the focus be on encouraging getting more mothers to initiate breastfeeding, or on helping mothers to continue for as long as they want? Should interventions pay more attention to the needs of mothers using formula milk, whose babies are most at risk of infection? Should we be measuring breastfeeding rates, or should we be considering women’s experiences or changes in wider societal knowledge and attitudes as a way of measuring ‘success’?

What else do peer supporters do?

We need to get smarter at understanding how peer support interventions can contribute to delivering the kind of big community-level changes that we will need in the UK if we are to ensure that all women’s decisions are respected and supported and that women who decide to breastfeed have a better time and can meet their feeding goals. This means thinking about all the things that peer supporters do alongside helping individual mothers. We need to develop different sorts of theories and outcome measures which can underpin more holistic, community-focused interventions.

My talk for the BfN conference will draw on findings from my PhD research. This builds on the findings of our review, drawing on conversations with groups of parents, peer supporters, health professionals and policy makers to ‘think outside the box’ and consider all the different ways that peer support makes a difference. I conclude that we need to develop interventions that reflect the potential for peer supporters to enhance existing social networks, counteract inadequate existing services, advocate for services, and diffuse attitudes, knowledge and skills within their social networks.

References

Trickey, H. 2013. Peer support for breastfeeding continuation: an overview of research. Perspective – NCT’s journal on preparing parents for birth and early parenthood (21), pp. 15-20.

Thomson, G. and Trickey, H. 2013. What works for breastfeeding peer support – time to get real. European Medical Journal: Gynaecology and Obstetrics 2013(1), pp. 15-22.

Trickey, H.et al. 2018. A realist review of one‐to‐one breastfeeding peer support experiments conducted in developed country settings. Maternal and Child Nutrition 14(1), article number: e12559. (10.1111/mcn.12559)

 

 

 

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