HDFT 0 - 5 Health Visiting Services have been working with NYCC 0 - 19 Early Years Service (Children's Centres) towards Baby Friendly Accreditation over the last 3 years.  This global accredited programme between the World Health Organisation and  Unicef BFI is designed to enable public services to better support families with feeding and developing close and loving relationships, thereby ensuring that all babies get the best possible start in life. 

HDFT 0 - 5 Health Visiting Services wanted to improve the support that all families were getting around breastfeeding, infant feeding and parenting. This uniquely structured evidence based programme has been proven to deliver real change through its best practice standards. Since the implementation of our local infant feeding policies, training and audit programmes, real improvements in care are  now beginning to materialise. An example of this can be seen in the increases in our local breastfeeding rates over the last few years (Breastfeeding at 10 days  46%  in 2014/2015 to 60% in 2017/2018).

Most mothers needs for basic help and social support can be effectively met through standard health service provision and locally developed services.  However a small number of families will experience complex challenges with breastfeeding which cannot be addressed via the normal route. A new approach to supporting these mum's has been devised and has become an integral part of the Health Visitor Breastfeeding Champion role .

There is obviously a cost to the new service that can be deemed expensive particularly when resources are sparse. However the Lancet Breastfeeding Series (2016) quantities the economic value of breastfeeding  by providing evidence that failure to invest does not make sound economic sense.  The health benefits for mothers and babies who breastfeed are clearly identified in research. There are also much wider implications as longer breastfeeding experiences are being linked to  reductions in the likelihood of developing Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes.  Therefore the benefits of breastfeeding are clear even from a financial perspective.  Higher rates of breastfeeding not only result in savings to family budgets but also to the public purse.

To further develop our services supporting families with breastfeeding, infant feeding and relationship building we would like to continue to provide our staff with useful resources that ensure unbiased evidence based information is provided to all families.  We would also like to enhance our Specialist Service by ensuring that further education is provided to our Health Visitor Breastfeeding Champions so they can provide the best care possible to families with more complex needs.

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