Become a Friend of the Drugs in Breastmilk Helpline

The Drugs in Breastmilk Helpline needs friends!

The Breastfeeding Network’s Drugs in Breastmilk service provides support and information to thousands of families and health professionals every year. Our highly experienced and trained pharmacist offers breastfeeding support alongside evidence based information to anyone who is concerned about the effects of medication or treatments while breastfeeding. We have a dedicated helpline number and email address, as well as a range of information sheets on a wide variety of topics.

Currently the Drugs in Breastmilk service receives no external funding and last year our #savedrugsinbreastmilkhelpline campaign was a huge success with hundreds of mums and health professionals proclaiming their love for our unique support service, and generously donating to help save this vital resource, which was at risk of closure due to lack of funds.

As a result of this, we’re very excited to launch our brand new ‘Friends of Drugs in Breastmilk Helpline’ scheme.

Anyone who uses or has used the helpline in the past will know just how fantastic it is and what a difference it makes to mums’ lives.

This is your opportunity to help us secure a long term future for the Helpline, so we can continue to provide evidence based, mother-centred, non-judgmental information around medications, procedures and treatments while breastfeeding.

For mums, this service is a lifeline – providing them with accurate and detailed, but easy to understand, information to allow them and their families to make their own decisions about their medication and how they feed their babies.

For health professionals, it is invaluable to have a reliable source of evidence based information to help provide the best possible care for mums and their babies.

We want to ensure this service has a sustainable future so it can continue to provide this vital support. Please consider becoming a Friend of Drugs in Breastmilk to help us do just that.

Yes! I want to become a Friend of Drugs in Breastmilk!

For individuals, we’re asking for a donation of just £25 for a year’s friendship – this is suited to you if you’re a breastfeeding supporter, a pharmacist, a health visitor, doula, GP, or a parent who has used the service in the past. You could even buy this as a gift for a new mum or for a health professional or student starting a new job or course.

For organisations, we’re asking for a donation of just £150 per year. This is suited to you if you’re part of a local health trust or board, a childrens’ centre, voluntary organisation, a maternity unit or group of pharmacies or GP surgeries. Please note we cannot accept donations/funding from any company with a commercial interest in infant feeding or any organisation that does not comply with the WHO code on the marketing of breastmilk substitutes

In return for your donation either as an individual or an organisation you will receive:

• a hard copy of all the DIBM infosheets (worth £10. Organisational friends will receive up to 5 copies)
• the new twice yearly DIBM e-newsletter, full of information and related news
• the latest updates to DIBM infosheets, plus any new infosheets by email as soon as they are released
• all the latest BfN Big Tea Break event information and resources as soon as they are available
• the knowledge you are supporting the sustainable development of a vital service for families across the UK
• the option to have your name included in the ‘our supporters’ feature in the newsletter
• a virtual ‘badge’ to demonstrate your support on your website or social media pages as well as a certificate
• Organisational friends will also receive an easy to deliver training session plan on the safety of Drugs in Breastmilk which can be used with staff across your organisation

Click here to download this info in PDF format – perfect for taking along to your next budget meeting!

How to Join

The first step is to complete an Application Form (click here to download). Please complete this and return it to us by email. You can then choose from three methods of payment.

Annual payment

By setting up an annual payment you will know that your membership will automatically be renewed each year, 12 months from the date of registration. Automated renewals also help us to reduce our administration costs and help us predict the amount of funding we can hope to receive. Please use the form below if you would like to set this up via PayPal.