Breastfeeding Support during Coronavirus Pandemic- you said, we did

We recently collaborated with the Infant Feeding Team at the James Paget University Hospital to design a survey with the aim of trying to understand how the service needs to be adapted to provide all families with the best support possible. We were interested in hearing about breastfeeding support experiences since the start of the Coronavirus lockdown where the traditional support groups, clinics, cafe's and services had to cease.

The survey results showed that:

• Most families felt somewhat prepared for breastfeeding before baby arrived (although, some of these families may have experienced antenatal education that others, further into the pandemic, did not).
• Most families wanted to have video calls made available with the Infant Feeding Team. 
• Most families wanted to receive an antenatal pack via email to help prepare themselves for breastfeeding.
• Nearly all families felt they could access the JPUH Infant feeding team for support in the early days once baby had arrived.
• Nearly all families found the information posted on the Bumps to Breastfeeding page useful.
• Most families also wanted to be able to access a peer supporter by phone.

As a result of your collective voices, the following changes have started taking place: 

• The tongue tie clinic run by Kay Horn the Infant Feeding Lead is now reopened and being accessed by families for tongue tie procedures.
• The Infant Feeding Team continue to make calls to all families discharged as breastfeeding from delivery suite and the ward.
• The Infant Feeding Team are moving towards getting an antenatal pack available for families before delivery,.
• The Infant Feeding Team are working towards opening a face to face clinic to allow them to support parents who are struggling with breastfeeding.
• The team are also working on how to utilise the skills of the peer supporters to provide additional support for families in these difficult times.

Thank you to all those people who participated in this survey, and any of our other feedback surveys or tools. If you would like to give feedback or get involved with the MVP, please pop a message over to us, we'd love to hear from you. 
Thanks for reading,
Kaya (Breastfeeding Lead Service User Rep)