Threat to South London BF support - please help

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Hi all,

The last time I found myself regularly in this topic was when I had a TOTAL nightmare establishing breastfeeding with my son who is now a healthy, happy 3 and half year old. My saviours were a group of amazing community midwives who run daily support clinics in my area of South London. Unfortunately, there are plans to withdraw this service (operated by Kings College Hospital). This will leave women without, as I'm sure you all appreciate, absolutely vital support when they need it most.

There is a petition on Change.org to help make our voices heard, as there has been NO community consultation on this. If you are or have been a user of this service, please sign. If you believe every mother who wants to breastfeed gets appropriate support, PLEASE SIGN.

www.change.org/p/kings-college-nhs-trust-save-kings-community-breastfeeding-clinics

We've already gathered 1,200 signatures in less than 48 hours, but would lovely to have the awesome power of Mumsnet behind this too. If this brilliant service is under threat, no doubt similar ones in your area will face pressure too. Don't let it happen.

"If these groups are not reaching those who are unlikely to bf then I maintain that they should be cut"

But their role isn't an advocacy one, it's a support role.

Breastfeeding promotion is done across the NHS.

The role of breastfeeding support is to enable women who wish to breastfeed to continue to do so.

The thing that I think has made a difference between when I had my first DC in 2012 and second this year is the growth of social media - the local mums groups on Facebook are several thousand strong, and whenever anyone asks for advice about breastfeeding, the flurry of mums recommending they go to Milkspot is always huge, and I suspect has encouraged vulnerable mums who would otherwise not have ventured to go to a group, to give it a try. I think online channels can cut through in a way that other word of mouth endorsements might not.

I have certainly seen a more mixed demographic of mums at Milkspots in 2015 than I did in 2012 and they're definitely as busy as they ever were.

I also feel very strongly that early intervention can help avoid the need for further MH support further down the line - I was certainly very vulnerable and teetering on the edge of depression when my DC2 started refusing to feed. Without the Milkspots there would also be knock on pressure on GPs and health visitors if mums turn to those services for help with feeding, colic, reflux etc which could have been solved much quicker by the Milkspot experts.

Also you seem to have unilaterally decided they are not reaching new groups or working. You have no evidence for either and the statistics suggest that they do in fact work. Prevalence rates are rising, and pressure on other stretched services are reduced.

The cost is for four midwives. No admin. And I suspect that the funding for them, if the posts go, will just disappear.

Kings is facing huge challenges, cuts have to be made. Unfortunately the groups who have had cuts already made are not as photogenic or garner as much attention as new mums.

There are other groups available to new mums, also there are existing LLL groups in south London.

I feel more comfortable with cuts being made here, that's my personal feeling on the subject.

Marshmallows Lambeth wants to encourage bf rates amongst groups who do not have a history of bf.

The thing is that other voluntary groups and support networks, as great as they may be, won't have the expertise that the Milkspot staff have, especially, I would imagine, in clinical areas like tongue tie. From what others have said, other MWs, GPs etc are not nearly so expert in identifying tongue tie.

4 full time midwives depending on their pay grade could cost upwards of £100,000. All costs need to be justified.

Lambeth is my home, I went to school here, gave birth here and will raise my child here I want what is best for my home. Vulnerable new mums are being forced out of the borough to Bexley, Bromley etc because of the housing crisis, schools are over subscribed, provision for adults with SN is woeful as well as a raft of other problems.

I feel more comfortable with money being taken from here then other places.