Our Key Priorities
- Ensure there is a range of different infant feeding support. Families receive the right level of support at the right time.
- Support the wellbeing of new parents and the transition to parenthood.
- Target breastfeeding promotion at families and communities.
- Support people who connect with families before, during and after pregnancy to take part in ongoing training and development.
- Further develop breastfeeding friendly spaces where women and families feel comfortable.
What our strategy is
We listened to infant feeding stories from local communities and now better understand what is important to families.
Our Strategy sets out what organisations will do together over the next five years. This is to support parents with the choices that they make to feed their baby. It highlights what families and their communities can do to give children the nutrition they need. Giving the best start in life.
What we mean by 'infant feeding'
- Breastfeeding.
- Expressing breast milk.
- Pumping breast milk.
- Combination feeding (breast and formula milk).
- Formula feeding.
- Weaning (introducing solid foods).
Why we need a strategy
- We want Calderdale babies to have the best start in life.
- We want parents to be able to build close and loving relationships with their baby. To feed their baby in ways which will support the best health and development.
- We want to help parents make the right infant feeding decisions for their family.
- We want families that need extra help with feeding their babies to get the support they need.
- We want to support our families and communities to support each other with infant feeding.
- To make sure our plans and policies about infant feeding are up to date.
- To make sure we are meeting the needs of our local parents, families and communities.
How we wrote our strategy
- We listened to Calderdale mums, dads and families about their experiences of infant feeding. We heard a lot of stories from mums who had breastfed their baby. We heard about what helped them breastfeed, what could be done to improve infant feeding support and what is missing.
- We heard from mums who had breastfed their baby in areas where breastfeeding is low. This was to see what had worked for them and what changes they would like to see.
- We considered the themes that came from the stories families told us.
- An expert in infant feeding, Professor Amy Brown, supported us to write our strategy. She looked at the good things being done in other areas of the country that we can learn from.
How we involved people
- A team of four mums who had breastfed their babies were trained to be community researchers. They heard from other mums about their experiences of feeding their babies.
- We held coffee and cake mornings and mums came to share their infant feeding stories.
- We had an online survey that any mum, dad or parent could fill in.
- We did phone and online video calls to hear from mums and their infant feeding stories.
- We held a sense making workshop. This was to look at the themes and talk about the gaps we were told about and the next steps. We did this with:
- community researcher;
- breastfeeding mums;
- midwifes;
- health visitors;
- Family Hubs workers;
- Volunteers;
- and public health workers.
What mums told us were the main sources of support with breastfeeding
In order of what mums told us were the main support:
- Family, partners and friends.
- Then peer support from other breastfeeding parents.
- Health Professionals and practitioners.
Many of the mums talked about how good it was to share their stories about their breastfeeding experiences. Thinking about the positive parts of their breastfeeding journey made them feel proud of how much they had achieved.
What this means for mums, dads, parents and babies
- You will see more in the communities about breastfeeding.
- You should see the infant feeding support services getting better.
- You will have more choice about the infant feeding support you receive.
- You will have opportunities to be involved in shaping the infant feeding support available in Calderdale.
- We will support you to build up relationships with other mums, dads/partners and families in your community.
What we want our strategy to do
- Make sure parents have support and information about infant feeding early in their pregnancy. This is so they have the right level of support at the right time from people they you trust. This might mean Family Hubs, online, from Breastfeeding Peer Supporters, your GP, Midwife or Health Visitor.
- Support the wellbeing of new parents and the move to becoming a new parent.
- Our community research showed that many people around the mum can enable her to breastfeed. We want to do more to support partners, family, friends and communities to them support breastfeeding mums.
- Further develop breastfeeding friendly spaces. Places where mums and families feel comfortable going with their baby when they are breastfeeding.
- Make sure there is a range of support services, so families get the right support at the right time.
- Provide services that are flexible with different choices of support to suit when you need to be supported.
- Make sure all professionals, practitioners and volunteers are trained to know about infant feeding support in Calderdale. So you feel able to ask anyone about breastfeeding and they would know what and who could support you.
How we will know the strategy is working
- We will have created an environment that encourages, nurtures and protects breastfeeding.
- Communities will be aware of the importance of breastfeeding. They will know how to support breastfeeding mums and where to go for support.
- Mums will feel confident to make an informed decision about how they choose to feed their baby.
- More mums will be attending breastfeeding support groups and connecting with breastfeeding peer supporters.
- More places will have signed up to the Welcome to Breastfeed Calderdale Award.
- We will ask families about the services and support you receive.
