First steps for baby friendly borough

Lauren Sutton from Rochdale with baby daughter, Amelia, and Community Nursery Nurse, Julie Pickles

NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale and Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Community Healthcare have been awarded the first stage of the UNICEF Baby Friendly status for their continued work to support and promote breastfeeding in the borough.

The accreditation, announced during World Breastfeeding Week this week, has been achieved as part of a worldwide programme to ensure pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers and babies receive high standards of care and support.

Val Rimmer, infant feeding co-ordinator at HMR Community Healthcare said: “This achievement is a great credit to the hard work of all our health staff including health visitors, children’s nurses, and many more.

“We want to ensure that we are giving as much support to pregnant women and mothers to help them give their babies the best start in life, and are setting up a volunteer support programme where local mothers who have successfully breastfed will be trained to support other local mothers.”

Breastfeeding is proven to reduce illnesses in children such as respiratory infections, ear infections, diarrhoea and vomiting and can reduce the risk of sudden and unexpected infant deaths. In the long term it can also reduce the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Health benefits last a long time after mothers cease to breastfeed with mothers benefiting from a reduction in breast cancer, ovarian cancer and osteoporosis.

Local Mum, Lauren Sutton, from Belfield in Rochdale, has been breastfeeding her daughter Amelia since she was born in May. She said: “Breastfeeding has really given me a stronger bond with my baby by having that skin to skin contact. It’s so much easier than having to mess around with bottles and sterilising, and it’s also cheaper so you can spend the money on other things like baby clothes and toys. There are so many benefits for both mum and baby that I think all mums should definitely breastfeed if they can.”

Health staff are continuing to work in partnership with the borough’s Children’s Centres to achieve full baby friendly accreditation, with Stage 2 assessing staff knowledge and skills and Stage 3 assessing user experience and knowledge.

For support with breastfeeding in your local area contact your health visitor or midwife or visit your local children's centre.

Alternatively, call the National Breastfeeding Helpline on 0300 100 0212.