Breastfeeding and the Baby Friendly team

Redbridge is committed to supporting mothers in making an informed choice regarding how they plan to feed their baby and to then support them to breastfeed for as long as they choose.

World Health Organisation and Deprtment of Health guidelines recommend that a baby is breast fed exclusively for 6 months, then for up to 2 years or for as long as the mother and baby wish, following the introduction of solid food to maximise health benefits. There is evidence to suggest that exclusive breastfeeding reduces the risk of gastroenteritis, chest infections, ear infections, asthma, eczema, diabetes and obesity. Health benefits for the mother include reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer as well as osteoporosis.

Clearly there is not only a public health benefit to breastfeeding but also a financial benefit based on the evidence of the reduction of ill health.

Despite the known benefits, at the end of quarter 2, 2011 – 12, only 65.64% of babies in Redbridge, were breastfeeding and much less were exclusively breastfeeding.

Currently 95% of the health visiting teams in Redbridge have received a 3 day breastfeeding training and there is an early intervention infant feeding team who support mothers to breastfeed in the early days post delivery.

UNICEF baby friendly initiative have introduced a GP e-learning package which will support updating and learning for GP’s on breastfeeding. It will offer GP’s online access to evidence based information on the diagnosis and treatment of breastfeeding related conditions. Redbridge has agreed to purchase the package for GP’s and this should be in place for use by March 2012.

Redbridge is commencing the process of becoming baby friendly which involves ensuring training and policies are in place for the organisation along with sufficient support for mothers to enable long term breastfeeding. This is a 3 – 5 year process which will involve a series of visits and assessments by the Baby Friendly team. Updates regarding this process will be shared in future newsletters. An implementation meeting will take place on 28 February at 10am in Manford Way resource centre, Chigwell IG7 4DF. GP’s are welcome to attend.

Redbridge will continue to strive to support mothers to breastfeed and to achieve the coverage and prevalence targets for the organisation. Many thanks to all surgeries who support this very important target by offering 6 – 8 week checks and reporting on the infant feeding method.  If the surgery is unable to assess the baby at 6 – 8 weeks and is assessing at a later time, please remember to ask how the baby was feeding at 6 – 8 weeks rather than at the time of the check. This ensures that the data collected relates to a specific period in the baby’s life.

If you require further information on breastfeeding, please contact the infant feeding team on 020 8822 4157. If you have any questions relating to GP e learning or the baby friendly implementation, please contact Jan Geddes, Infant feeding & healthy weight co-ordinator, on 020 8822 4134.