If you did go to a breat feeding group please tell me what you would like to gain from it ?

[fakeblonde]

I now it might sound really obvious that youd want advise on breastfeeding, but im really excited because ive been given some funding to set up a support group each week for breastfeeing mums. Id really appreciate some comments on what you`d like if you were to attend.

Peer support / Friendship ?
Advise in pregnancy or support after ?
What time of day ?
Midwife or support worker or another mum or all ?
Id love to hear your suggestions ? Ive got a blank canvas to start and really want to make a go of this.

A breastfeeding counsellor - someone who's done some in-depth training (i.e. more than HV/midwife) and knows their stuff!

I went to a great group run by a breasfeeding counsellor. Some things that I found really useful were:

She always had a quiet room set aside if anyone wanted a chat in private;

If any mothers came in with mastitis/thrush, she would fax their GP with the right prescription;

We also had a Surestart worker at the group, who would sometimes offer baby massage in a separate room, or would occupy the babies if a mum was having a hard day!

Definitely knowledgeable BF counsellor.

Sociable, relaxed atmosphere - nothing too structured.

Availability of private area.

Morning or early afternoon - IME babies are really tough going later in the day and getting anywhere with them is more of a hassle.

Good links, even just informally, with local HCPs.

Mix of experienced and new mums. I think a new group is likely to attract lots of new mums - if you were to try and encourage more extended or experienced BFers to come along the newest mums might benefit more.

I'm a breastfeeding counsellor and help out at a drop-in. We find some Mums just come once or twice to get help, others come every week for the social side of it. You definitely need one person who REALLY knows what they're talking about because we have seen some quite difficult cases over the last couple of years. We have 3 peer supporters and a breastfeeding GURU health visitor but we are quite a busy group. Other groups are run with one or two trained peer supporters and occasionally a health visitor.

Ours is 10-12, but some Mums find it a little early. There is a very successful one held in a cafe nearby that goes over lunchtime so everyone goes for lunch. They have the use of a private room for those with problems but everyone else just feeds in the cafe.

You definitely need tea, coffee and biscuits. Plus toys for older siblings.

Good luck, how exciting!! Be prepared for it to be a bit quiet to start with, it takes quite a while for these things to build up. DO YOUR MARKETING!! Make sure every health professional in the area knows you exist!! Plus list it on all the local websites for Mums

I went lots to a local group with ds1. Agree with all the above. For me it was somewhere where it was OK to be feeding, even my mum thought I should give bottles "to make ds1 easier to look after" so it was nice to see people who understood why I was still ebf - it was a lovely calming place to go.
I think it was 11-1. With ds1 I found it hard to get out the house for 10 (funny how with ds2 it was a doddle to get them both up and out much earlier....)

OH this is really interesting as I have a meeting with the local HV & childrens centre this morning to organise something similar!!! Will take on board all the comments here.

One thing that would have been really important to me was someone to greet you as you came in, introduce you to people if you didn't know anyone, and generally make people feel welcome. When I had DS, I knew no one in the area, he was prem so no one from the antenatal classes was going to baby groups yet, and when I went to my first NCT Bumps and Babes (which was held 10-12 at the Pizza Express who gave everyone one free hot drink as loads stayed on for lunch, and didn't charge to be there) no one spoke to me. I was mortified.

OTOH, I went to a church run baby group which was 12-2 and they provided lunch for a small sum (and minded the babies whilst you ate), and one of the volunteers met everyone at the door, introduced people, chatted if you looked alone etc. It was really lovely to be made so welcome, and the only thing I looked forward to

one of the hvs at the baby clinic asked me several times to come to her bf group. i didn't because i had enough of her colleagues badgering me about weight / giving rubbish advice and bf was finally going well.

many months later i realised she probably wanted me to go as an experienced (post 6m) bfer, so do make it clear that it is open to people at all stages.

Definitely somebody who knows what they are talking about - that's for sure!!

I go to a LLL group here, and they run alternately every fortnight. One time is for younger babies and then next is for older babies/toddlers. Everyone is welcome at either of course, but the topics covered relate to the particular age group IYSWIM. And of course, anyone who is having problems will be helped.

I enjoy going where people don't look at me like I'm a freak for "still" feeding ds who is 3.

Tea and biscuits too of course!

Good for you for setting this up. Good luck!!

I think cmot's point about someone to "take charge" in a greeting capacity is a really, good one actually. It's easily overlooked but with a wee baby going to something like that can be a huge challenge. Postnatally I think confidence can be low, you're a hormonal wreck and everything is so new and scary that it's incredibly easy to be put off if you don't feel welcomed.

I recall my two visits to a local parent and child group when DS was tiny and it was bloody hard going, and I didn't go back. Which sucked, because I could have really used the support, having managed to get us both up and out of the house when he was a few weeks old and colic was setting in

1. chairs that are good for feeding in. The one i went to just had those hard moulded style stackable ones, made it really uncomfortable to feed

2. some structure to the session, - danger that it can just degenerate into a collective rant about the same thing each week. First hour coffee and general chitchat (+ time for indvs to get help with specific problems) Second hour discussion of specific issue (colic/reflux, going back to work etc. etc advertised in advance)

3. toys or something to help amuse older children

These are all great. Writing them down & taking them with me!
Sorry for a bit of a hijack fb!

I have been going to different groups for the last 9mths & there have already been some really good suggestions given, especially about the chairs suitable for feeding - ideally have some pillows/supportive cushions available too in case someone is having positioning problems and some sort of shawl or wrap if they would like a bit more privacy.
I would say with the refreshments, offer to actually get them for the attendees as sometimes new mums feel like they have their hands full & are dying for a cuppa but don't feel like they can leave babe or are too busy feeding/settling etc
At our groups we usually start with an "icebreaker" with the intros which can be anything at all like what's your fave food, how was your night, etc
We also pass round a form to put people's details on so if one of the children goes down with a communicable disease then the group co-ordinator can let everyone know.
I find it useful to have a program of the meeting topics in advance so I know whether I will find it of particular use to go other than just to socialise & can formulate questions beforehand. I also volunteer by doing email & SMS reminders to those that want them a couple of days in advance.
It is good to advertise the group to pregnant women too so they can get proper info before being potentially misled by all the various do-gooders they may encounter! & so they know where they come for support after they have the baby.
Hope it works out well!

A "greeter" is so important. I went to a lovely group when DS was tiny and was nervous about going - I'm not much of a joiner and it was one of the first times I'd been out with DS on my own...even getting his jacket on was a challenge! Anyway, I was met at the door with a "hello, would you like a cup of tea?", then asked if I needed help, or wanted a chat. Tea was brought to me in a covered cup. The group was run by a lovely HV who knew lots about bf. Helpers were peer-support type people from the BfN, so it was a nice mix of having expert advice or just someone to moan to! They were all really nice and good at introducing you to people if you looked a bit lonely.

Coffee and biscuits lol.

A suitable time of the day - mornings are good but not too early - often older children are having naps at lunch time

The main thing I go for is the social support - meeting other mums who breastfeed so understand and being able to feed in a non judgemental atmosphere!

Cwtchy - where in s wales are you? Im swansea/llanelli way and also know a lovely surestart woman!

The local ones near me all have a trained bf counsellor. But what I liked most about it, specially with ds2 who just fed fed fed all day and most of the night for months on end, was the fact that its somewhere you can GO with a bf baby, sit about and gossip and drink tea etc.
Just something social to do that you don't have to keep disappearing from for hours on end because you are bfing a baby.

Ours are all 1-2.30 to give mums of older children a chance to come in school hours.

Need plenty of room for prams.

You might want to provide toys etc for older pre-school children as many of the mums don't just have the baby they are bfing.

One thing I did NOT like was when they got a play leader involved as some (me included) took older but still pre-school children as well as our babies.

We were quite happy to let the children play while we supervised, but the play leader decided we all had to sit in a circle on the floor and do 'activities' regardless of the ages of our children. We weren't there for activities, we were there to sit and chat whilst breast feeding.

I have not bf for nearly 2 years now but am still welcome at the groups because in the words of the counsellor I've 'done my time' and so can offer support to the other mums.

I'm just about to head off to our weekly breast feeding group! It runs from 1.30-3.30.

I started going because the midwife who runs it invited me after I had some difficulty getting BF established. Now breastfeeding is easy peasy (never thought I would be saying that!) I still go to chat with the other mums, offer support to new mums who might be having the same issues I had, occasionally to get my baby weighed... oh and most importantly for their excellent selection of biscuits.

Good luck with your group... I found mine invaluable in the horrors that were our first few weeks . I think you will be providing a wonderful service which could really make the difference to a lot of mums.

waitingtobloom I'm down Cardiff way - must be a lot of lovely Surestart ladies around! If we were a bit closer we could gatecrash each other's to compare and contrast..

Sorry for the hijack, Fakeblonde...one other thing I thought of would be to photocopy a page advertising the group and ask the hospitals to give it to new mums in the pack of rubbish important information they get when they are discharged.

Lol cwtchy - im from cardiff originally and know a few surestart ladies there

Info and chat without being pounced on and judged.

Support about mixed feeding if necessary.

Not to be chucked out of the group if you have to give up.

Free food and drinks always go down well...

I went to one.

The counsellor gave me evil looks when I spoke to someone about feeding beyond 6 months, then gave me a long lecture on the dangers of co-sleeping when I mentioned DS slept with me. She was very patronising.

So the opposite of her would be good.

I thought the whole thing seemed a bit tokenistic, so clearly someone with a bit of passion and enthusiasm for breastfeeding would be good. I'd have appreciated talking to other mothers who breastfeed rather than a support worker, to be honest, unless she was very well trained and experienced.

Oh, and it really, really irritates me that these groups are generally only run in term time. Why is this? I had no idea when term times were, being a new mother, so was continuously foxed by the groups stopping at random times of the year.

Good luck, you sound really enthusiastic about this and I bet lots of people will benefit.

I went to one with my first child where they gave fantastic food - it was run by SureStart and they closed it down because they decided that the people going were too middle class (ie. would have breastfed anyway, didn't "need" extra support). So, I suppose it would have been nice not to have had assumptions made about my background and whether I was a "desirable" breastfeeder and needed targeting to tick some local authority's diversity profile.

I have just finished breastfeeding my third child and it never fails to astonish me how many people will tell you you're doing it wrong : either you're not latching on enough, or you're not feeding long enough or you're not feeding often enough or you should be doing it on demand and God forbid you express some or give a bottle of formula occasionally.

So, if I were setting up a group I would make sure that everyone felt welcome and give them all a bloody big pat on the back (and some very nice chocolate along with their cups of tea) for doing it at all. Our short-lived group had occasional head massage and that was nice. You could also try offering classes in baby massage or First Aid if you can get the funding but, most of all, it was just really nice to meet local women and I became really good friends with some of them.

Cake always goes down well.

I go to a lovely one. There's good support and a knowledgeable bf consultant. They do taster activities like baby massage sometimes and always have nice things for both babies and toddlers to play with. I have no problems breastfeeding so I mainly go for the relaxed atmosphere and knowing that I can whip my boobs out if need be without anyone staring while dd1 has a play.