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Maternity staff share message that “breast is best”
Written by Communications Team   

Staff and volunteers from the maternity unit at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals organised a cake sale on Wednesday 27th June to support National Breastfeeding Awareness Week.

Infant Feeding Advisor, Kim McHarg, said: “We wanted to encourage people to come and talk to us about breastfeeding and pick up our information, so thought the cake sale was a good way of doing it. We are going to use the money raised to update our breastfeeding information DVDs for parents and staff.” 


From left to right: Breastfeeding support volunteers, Kerry Radden, Helen Higginson and Jenny Edwards (with son Reese) and Infant Feeding Advisor Kim McHarg selling their cakes.
 

The whole maternity team at Ashford and St Peter’s, including midwives, nursery nurses and maternity care assistants are trained to help women establish breastfeeding. After previously achieving the UNICEF Baby Friendly Level 1 accreditation for their commitment to helping new mums breastfeed, the unit is now working towards level 2.

Kim said: “The Baby Friendly accreditation is important as it shows our commitment to training staff and providing consistent and supportive advice to women. We offer all women the opportunity to attend a breastfeeding workshop in the third trimester of pregnancy, where they can learn how to latch their baby on correctly and about ways of making sure that breastfeeding is going well.”

The unit also offers breastfeeding clinics for after the birth, where women can drop-in for advice and help with any concerns they may have. These take place at Ashford Hospital on Monday afternoons and Sayes Court Children’s Centre in Addlestone on Tuesday Mornings. Kim said: “Breastfeeding is one of the most natural things to do but it is still a skill that mother and baby have to learn and we are here to help with any problems or worries along the way. In addition to our work with women on the ward and at the drop-in clinics, we also support women at home through our network of community midwives and maternity care assistants.”