I am going to be a volunteer in our local hospital to support new mothers who want to breast feed

[popsycal]

A while back, I emailed our local sure start to ask whether there was anything I could do to support new mums who want to breast feed. Had a not so positive expereince with ds1 which was mainly due to a lack of confidence and an excellent experience with ds2 who is now almist 20 months.

I had an email today asking whether I owuld be interested in going to the maternity ward on a Monday morning to talk to new mums and chat about feeding. Sure start would provide a creche for ds2 and pay transport.

Maybe I am sad, but I am really quite excited about this.

there

You're not sad at all - this is a brilliant thing to do!

I hope it goes really well - I'm sure the new mums will really benefit.

fantastic popsycal ! not sad! imagine the difference you could make to mums & babies..be proud!

I am actually.
It will also do ds2 good to have a few hours away from me as he is a bit of a limpet. I know he will find it hard at first but he needs it too.

I need it. Want to be useful and share positive experiences

Let us know how you get on.

popsy FAb this is something I would also LOVE to do. Well done, pat on the back from me for sure!

good on you!

i had wonderful help from one particular nurse and i'll always remember her for that; definitely kept me going when i could easily have given up. good advice makes all the difference. well done : )

brilliant! i'd love to do the same.

oh good for you! what an excellent thing to do. just where help is needed, too

I am so pleased for you.
HC xx

cool. i would love to do something similar. nice to hear about forward thinking hospitals.

Fantastic - I admire you
Wish that somebody had been there to give me support with my first as nursing staff were so busy - ended up getting BF counsellor out to me on day 3 .
Good luck and let us know how you get on....tempted to do something like this myself too now.......

Message withdrawn

Well done Popsy - what a fantastic thing to do. No wonder you're excited.

Did SureStart also mention their "Best Buddies" Scheme? I think it is a 10 week course of 2 hour sessions. When you've completed it, they pair you up with pregnant women, or new mums who want some peer support with breastfeeding.

I wish I'd known about it when I was trying to breastfeed dd. Talking to an experienced mum might have made all the difference.

Wow, that's a brilliant thing to do.

for you.

Agree with everyone else - FANTASTIC!!

Have wondered about doing this myself as will only be going back to work PT after maternity leave (was quite shocked in hospital as I was the only one out of the approx 8 other mothers I met that was bf) and none of my other close relatives or friends have bf.

Keep posting to let us know how it goes.

This is great Popsy. Did you have to get special training? I'd love to do this, but my advice would probably be "er... let's go in the car to see the breastfeeding counsellor"

oh wow - that's great.
My MW is on a surestart team - I might ask her about this if everything works out with breastfeeding this time

There will be some sort of 'induction' but I think it is more a friendly chat/moral support thing more than anything. I would have loved something like this when i was in hospital - it is just a recent initiative apparently.

Excellent! Good luck

Do tell how it goes. I'd love to do this too - did go to a breastfeeding workshop when dd was 6 weeks old to talk about how feeding was going (and to demonstrate). I had gone to the workshop myself when I was expecting and had found it really useful to actually see real live mums and babies.
I do think that this is an excellent idea- suggested something very similar to my health visitor as IMO the people going to workshops are already receptive and keen to breastfeed. I think it would be helpful if breastfeeding mums could be enlisted to help more postnatally, by visiting maternity wards and just chatting.

Thats brill! My mum and HV are trying to make me give a talk to young mums about BFing , but im way to shy to ever do anything like that! Well done you!

That's so cool!