The Breastfeeding Network (BfN) is a Scottish registered charity that supports women, families and communities with evidence-based information and practical peer support to help give children the best start in life. Central to our work is promoting the mental and physical wellbeing of mothers and babies through peer support, sharing evidence based information and helping parents to build supportive networks. We want families and communities to know how to access help when they need it and to feel empowered to make the parenting and feeding choices that are right for them.
Peer support from people with lived experience of breastfeeding can offer vital social, emotional and practical support for new parents. Our services are provided in a variety of ways including through local peer support groups where parents can access support and information around infant feeding, early parenting and mental wellbeing. Our groups offer an informal setting where parents and babies can come together to meet other local families and develop friendships and supportive networks. We also offer support on hospital wards, 1:1 over the phone/text message and through home visits. We run the National Breastfeeding Helpline (in partnership with ABM) offering peer support for new parents 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We also run the Drugs in Breastmilk Information Service with trained pharmacist volunteers. Our services share support and information around breastfeeding, infant feeding and other topics relevant to those first, all important, weeks and months with a new baby, including mental wellbeing for parents. Peer support can help reduce isolation and help new parents and babies build social connections and support networks in their community.
We know that the work we do supporting parents, training new volunteers and supporting volunteering activity in local areas contributes to reducing health inequalities across the communities we work in. All our services are targeted at communities with high levels of deprivation and we know that some families need more support than others because of their ethnicity, age, social barriers or disability. We focus our work on these families by offering peer support to build community capacity in areas of deprivation and in underserved and isolated communities. Our work is based on co-production, working with local communities and taking an assets-based approach to empowering and supporting new parents and babies.
Peer support for breastfeeding and responsive infant feeding is needed because Scotland has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world meaning that many families in Scotland do not have family or friends with experience of breastfeeding who can support them. Research shows that 8 out of 10 women stop breastfeeding before they wanted to. This is important because breastfeeding has wide-ranging benefits for the mental and physical health of women and babies in both the short and long term. Breastfeeding rates vary hugely across different population groups, and data shows that babies born to younger parents or those living in areas of high deprivation are the least likely to be breastfed, increasing health inequalities and making it harder for these children to reach their full potential.
Access to training and volunteering opportunities can have a huge impact on women, families and the communities they live in. For women, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, volunteering can increase confidence and self-esteem and research has shown that disadvantaged areas with lots of voluntary activity do better in relation to health outcomes than more affluent communities with no voluntary activity. Training and volunteering can offer the chance to develop different skills and bring people from different backgrounds together, reducing social isolation. Our volunteers tell us that being part of the Breastfeeding Network helps them feel more connected, both within the volunteer team and also with other parents in their local area. It also helps them feel that they have something of value to offer their local community. The training we offer is accredited by OCN London, meaning that it offers women a recognised qualification that can help with accessing other study and work opportunities, bringing wider benefits to women and families.
Our poster shows how our work brings all of these elements together to help reduce health inequalities in our communities by offering high quality, accessible peer support for families alongside opportunities for women to access accredited training and meaningful volunteering opportunities. Peer support can also help build community capacity and change the culture around infant feeding so that more families feel supported in their decisions and empowered to breastfeed for as long as they choose.
Authors – Sarah Edwards, Scottish Programme Manager and Kirstin Worsley, Scottish Peer Support Services Manager
For more information contact mailto:sarah.edwards@breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk