Breastfeeding Fears As Feeding Support Services Are Now Hit By NHS Cuts

Lots of new mums don’t get enough help with learning the ropes of parenthood – and it looks like soon there will be even less support available for them.

Support services are being cut nationwide, with breastfeeding classes, home visits from midwives and baby cafes being dramatically scaled back because of the cuts to both the NHS’ and local authorities' funding.

These services have helped thousands of new mums get to grips with the basics of motherhood, particularly breastfeeding, leading to concerns that the number of mums nursing their children for the recommended six months will fall.

Britain already has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the western world and getting rid of access to experts who can help support mothers could be seriously damaging.

Research by the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) shows that an extraordinary 80 per cent of women confess they probably would have stopped breastfeeding if they hadn’t of received expert help at baby cafes, or somewhere similar – showing these support systems really are imperative.

“As a charity which champions parents’ choice we would like to see mothers getting the assistance they want and need,” says Rosemary Dodds, senior policy adviser of NCT. “We would like to see improved services for all parents including those who want to breastfeed but are struggling.

“NCT supports both mums who decide to bottle-feed and those who want to breastfeed by providing a helpline, breastfeeding counsellors and drop in sessions. Research shows this kind of support has practical and psychological benefits for mothers, impacting on the wellbeing of their babies.”

Charity 4Children says as many as 112 children’s centres will close this year and it’s thought that several dozen baby cafes have closed, with a number in Oxfordshire headed for the same fate.  

Staffordshire county council is just one local authority that’s already withdrawn it’s funding – despite protests from the hundreds of mums who used the scheme each year.

“The beauty of peer support is that we had time to sit with the mums day in and day out; that was our role. This is what sustains breastfeeding,” Ellie Fielding, who coordinated the service for 10 years, told The Guardian.

“The health visitors would try and do their best but with the best will in the world, they couldn’t spend two hours with just one mother. I just feel so sad for the mums.”

In other parts of the country, the same closures are already in place. It’s looking like a breastfeeding counseling service in Basingstoke will soon shut it’s doors after Hampshire country council withdraw its funding.

In south London, a petition started by mum of two Michaela Lawrence is hoping to save various community breastfeeding clinics run by Kings College Hospital Trust.

“I was horrified and slightly tearful,” says Lawrence. “It had such as big impact on my life because when you’re trying to feed a new baby, it’s really difficult. It really was only because of these highly qualified midwives and the expert advice I received that I was able to breastfeed.”

Did an NHS or local authority support service help you in your first months as a parent? Tweet us at @YLifestyleUK.

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