Volunteer Jane designs card to help normalise breastfeeding – ‘The more it’s seen the less it’s noticed’ - video Dailymotion

Volunteer Jane designs card to help normalise breastfeeding – ‘The more it’s seen the less it’s noticed’

Transcript

00:00Hi I'm Jane and I've been a breastfeeding peer support volunteer for

00:04eight months now and I'm also a mum to two boys who I breastfed both of them.

00:08The breastfeeding peer support system is a way to offer individualised

00:13and tailored support to mums and it meets them at that point whenever

00:17they're just coming out of hospital and whenever you're just home and it's just

00:22a way of connecting with them. A walk can be one of the most vulnerable times

00:26whenever all the doubts and the fears hit you and you have all the questions

00:31that you wish you would have asked in hospital. There's no judgment in it

00:35because it's coming from mums who have been in that place themselves recently

00:41who may have just finished their breastfeeding journey or may still be on

00:45their journey themselves. They get it and they're able to offer the support

00:50and the advice that is most up-to-date. There are many different ways to support

00:55mums within the breastfeeding peer support. You can get involved with the

01:00text or the phone service and check in on the mums. You can come to breastfeeding

01:05support groups which is an amazing way just to get that face-to-face and just

01:09really build relationships with one another and then there's also bringing

01:13back coming into the hospitals to visit the mums just post birth. It really is

01:19such an invaluable service and the training and support that you receive

01:24within the Western Trust is amazing. You really are such a valued member of a

01:29wider team. When thinking towards World Breastfeeding Week, the infant team

01:34lead had asked the breastfeeding volunteers if there was any ideas we

01:39might have to promote breastfeeding. It led me to identify the idea of creating

01:43encouragement cards. It's so important to normalise breastfeeding in public as

01:48the more it's seen the less it's going to be noticed. It's reaching out to that

01:52mum and giving her that encouragement and the empowerment she needs. You don't

01:57know what she's going through. The actual cards themselves will be available

02:01during World Breastfeeding Week at all our major events so check out the Trust

02:06website for them and they will also be available at the breastfeeding support

02:11groups.