I got in touch with my maternity unit today...

[Miaou]

...to see if they were interested in me going in to talk to expectant mothers about what it is like to breastfeed

I spoke to the midwife who looked after me when I was pg with ds - she said she would have to check with the head midwife when she came back from holiday next week, but if she has any say in the matter she would love me to go along!

I've been thinking about doing this for ages (not to do with the b/f programme the other night!), and also reading the thread recently about putting something back into society ... even if nothing comes of it I'm glad I plucked up the courage to get in touch and offer!

Ah, hope all goes well for you Miaou

I'd love to do something like that but I'm too shy in RL

Thanks Maddison

It has taken me months to pluck up the courage, while not very shy I'm quite a private person, particularly where my body is concerned, but breastfeeding is so important (personally and for society/whatever) that in the end I took a deep breath and went for it!

It helps I think that I know my midwife team very well - it's a small place and I met most of them and they are very pro-breastfeeding.

Brilliant, Miaou

Am going to write to my hospital next week about their "support" and see what they think about a peer supporter system there.

miaou - BIG UP and RESPECT !

I decided ages ago to set up a Baby Cafe and certainly the discussion of the programme has made me more decisive to go ahead with it. There is no Baby Cafe in the part of London I live in. I visited one last week in North London and it was lovely !

My local hospital is trying to get "Baby Friendly" status and they actually have a volunteer programme for mothers who can spare 3 hours a week to help with newborns. They have 2 volunteer mothers who are helping out, but they need more recruits.

I have an appointmnet with the bf lead at the hospital next week and we are going to discuss the Baby Cafe I will be setting up.

Every little helps

Miaou - lead the way! It's something I would like to do actually.

I'm not particularly a campaigner for breastfeeding and I am very pro-choice BUT I think there are lots of women who give up or don't try because it's sometimes hard to get started and get through the first couple of weeks. I certainly needed some help with my first child and most midwives weren't interested in spending any time with me to get me started but there was one angel in the middle of the night who helped me and I'll never forget her.

thanks KBear. That's why I think I am in a good position to do it - I am not an Earth Mother type (may alienate the teen mums?), nor am I an exclusive b/feeder - both dds were on formula from 6 months and 8 weeks respectively. So I am not anti-bottle feeding. But I would like to help people make an informed decision and to consider breastfeeding instead of rejecting it out of hand.

If they take me up on my offer I will be asking for lots of advice on here on what to say!