New, shared Vision for breastfeeding and infant feeding

We are delighted to share a new, collective Vision for breastfeeding that has been created by the sector through a process of collaboration, reflection and shared ambition.

This Vision represents the expertise, leadership and commitment of breastfeeding organisations, practitioners and advocates across the UK (including the iHV) who came together to set out what families should be able to expect from a supportive, equitable infant feeding system.

What the sector did

Organisations and practitioners contributed deep knowledge of the current infant feeding landscape, highlighting what is working and what continues to hold families back.
Leaders from across the sector met at a national symposium to test ideas, debate priorities and shape practical actions.
Advocacy groups, practitioners and academics worked together to develop a unified vision that reflects equity, inclusivity, skilled support, independent guidance and stronger partnership across the system.

This collaborative effort shows the strength, insight and credibility that breastfeeding organisations bring when acting collectively, and the influence they can have in shaping national expectations for infant feeding support.

The Vision prioritises:

Creating environments where breastfeeding is normalised and actively supported
Accessible, trusted support so every family can benefit from high-quality services and is protected from discrimination and commercial influence, regardless of circumstance
Responsive, skilled support informed by independent, evidence-based guidance
Dependable and resilient support systems in every community
National commitment to world-class breastfeeding and infant feeding support, with better collaboration between government and specialist organisations

Helen Smith, Infant Feeding Coordinator and Baby Friendly Initiative Project Lead at Swindon Borough Council, and iHV Expert Adviser: Infant Feeding, commented:

“Timely and effective support with infant feeding maximises breastfeeding for optimum nutrition, ensures safe bottle feeding, and enables close and loving relationships and early attachment. The iHV welcomes the launch of the Breastfeeding and Infant Feeding Vision and is delighted to have contributed to this. A unified approach amplifies the impact that can be achieved and we hope this supports the goal of improving infant feeding support for families.”

Commissioned by Impact on Urban Health and convened and coordinated by Bremner & Co, this work created space for breastfeeding organisations to come together, test ideas and develop a collective vision. The thinking, priorities and direction were shaped by the sector. The strength of this vision demonstrates the power within the sector and commitment to improving infant feeding support.

Read the Vision

The Vision is found on the Breastfeeding in Focus webpage on the Impact on Urban Health website.

Also read Cressida Pidgeon's blog: A shared vision for breastfeeding and infant feeding: sector leadership in action

New Infant Feeding Expert Adviser Appointed

The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) is delighted to announce the appointment of Helen Smith as its second Infant Feeding Expert Adviser. Helen will work alongside current expert adviser Pippa Atkinson to support the growing need for expert advice and national leadership in this vital area of public health.

Helen Smith, iHV Expert Adviser: Infant Feeding

iHV expert advisers use their specialist knowledge to shape policy and practice, represent the experiences of health visitors, and ensure that iHV’s positions and guidance are based in current evidence / practice. This voluntary role brings significant opportunities: influencing national forums; collaborating with senior leadership; enhancing professional development; and contributing to iHV’s mission to support babies, children and families.

Helen brings a wealth of experience and passion to her new role. She is a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN), International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and a UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative Qualified Leader (BFIqL). With over two decades of nursing and health visiting experience, Helen has played a key role in championing infant feeding and breastfeeding support at both local and regional levels.

Helen currently works as the Infant Feeding Coordinator for Swindon Borough Council’s 0-19 Public Health Nursing Service. Since 2009, she has led on breastfeeding and infant feeding for Swindon’s public health and health visiting services. Swindon achieved full UNICEF Baby Friendly accreditation in 2016, a testament to her commitment to high-quality, evidence-based infant feeding support.

Her recent academic work includes an MSc in Public Health, with a dissertation focused on a collaborative quality improvement project with maternity services and the Family Nurse Partnership, exploring support for teenage mothers around infant feeding.

Commenting on her appointment, Helen said:

“It is a privilege to be joining the iHV as an expert adviser and I am looking forward to continuing to champion infant feeding in this role, to support staff in practice, and ensure children have the best start in life.”

With increasing recognition of the role that infant feeding plays in wider health outcomes (including perinatal mental health, oral health and healthy weight), Helen’s appointment strengthens the iHV’s capacity to influence policy and practice in this crucial area.

WBTi Report shows more needs to be done to support breastfeeding in UK

Today, the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) UK Core Group published their second UK assessment report of breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding across the four UK nations. The Report’s authors present some progress since their first assessment in 2016, but many gaps remain in infant feeding policies and programmes – and the Report sets out the recommendations required to address them.

Urgent action is necessary to prioritise, protect and support breastfeeding as a public health priority; and formula-fed infants need access to affordable formula, safely prepared. The Report highlights the important public health impacts of breastfeeding on women’s health, reducing their risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, poor mental health, obesity and overweight. Breastfeeding reduces infants’ risk of SIDS and necrotising enterocolitis, with later impacts on diabetes, obesity and overweight, and can improve brain development, emotional development and school performance.

Launched in 2004, the WBTi assists countries to assess the status of and benchmark the progress in implementation of the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding in a standard way. It is based on the World Health Organization (WHO) tool for national assessment of policy and programmes on infant and young child feeding. The first UK WBTi assessment was published in 2016. This latest assessment was completed to determine whether any progress had been made on breastfeeding outcomes over the last eight years.

Nations are rated against the ten parameters of policy and programmes that protect, promote and support optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices (using a 0-10 rating scale, where 0 represents the lowest or poorest rating, and 10 indicates the highest or best rating). The latest 2024 scores are listed below:

National policy, governance and funding – UK score 4/10
UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative – UK score 7.5/10
Implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes – UK score 5/10
Maternity protection – UK score 6/10
Health care systems (in support of breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding) – UK score 6/10
Counselling services for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers – UK score 6/10
Accurate and unbiased information support – UK score 5.5/10
Infant feeding and HIV – UK score 3/10
Infant and young child feeding in emergencies – UK score 0/10
Monitoring and evaluation 5/10.

Devolved nations are in the lead

The Report also presents separate nation scorecards which show considerable variation between UK nations – with England scoring the lowest (44.5/100) and Northern Ireland scoring the highest (69.5/100) in the between nation comparisons.

The devolved nations have continued to show national leadership, with stronger policies and programmes on infant feeding, consistently scoring higher than England. Wales has been reconfiguring services, has a national action plan to 2024, and recently put a leadership team in place. Northern Ireland has put many policies in place and is the only nation to have completed updated resources on infant feeding and HIV, giving them the top score. Scotland, whose national early years team recently won the political leadership category of the Children’s Food Awards, demonstrates strong political will, joined up policies, and investment in community breastfeeding support, the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, and the National Breastfeeding Helpline, over the longest period and has seen breastfeeding rates start to rise.

Improvements and gaps in health professional training

The UK’s UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) accreditation programme is recognised and recommended across all four UK nations. It supports maternity, neonatal, community and hospital-based children’s services to transform their care and works with universities to ensure that newly qualified midwives and health visitors have the strong foundation of infant feeding knowledge needed to support families.

Maternity staff in Baby Friendly (BFI)-accredited hospitals and health visitors in BFI-accredited community services have strong in-service training in the basics of breastfeeding management. Higher levels of breastfeeding education are in the preregistration training for midwives, lactation consultants (IBCLCs), breastfeeding counsellors, peer supporters and BFI-accredited health visiting programmes.

In contrast, once mothers are discharged from hospital, other health professionals such as nurses, doctors, dieticians and pharmacists may have had little or no training in infant feeding/ breastfeeding and may not know how to support breastfeeding mothers under their care (full details are presented in the report). There is no mention of infant feeding in nursing training standards; even paediatric and neonatal nurses may not have a basic knowledge of breastfeeding.

BFI-accredited university health visitor (HV) programmes have significantly more content on breastfeeding. By 2024, one fifth of HV training programmes were BFI-accredited; and WBTi’s recommendation is that all HV university programmes should achieve BFI accreditation, as well as all community services. HV services should be well staffed and integrated with a network of skilled peer supporters and a specialist pathway when needed. Health visitors have a crucial role in supporting and signposting families to other support.

“Political will is required with action and investment at all levels: local authorities, the health system, and at national levels…. We look forward to a UK that respects and supports parents’ infant feeding decisions and removes all barriers to their feeding journeys.” (WBTI 2024 REPORT).

Dr Robert Boyle, Consultant Paediatrician, Imperial College, London, said:

“There are areas of progress since the 2016 report, but the main message of this Report is that much more can be and should be done to support breastfeeding in the UK. More than half of babies born in the UK are put the breast within an hour of birth, but by age 6 weeks many babies are fully bottle-fed. These are some of the worst breastfeeding figures in the world…If we value children, their mothers and their other carers, then a step change is needed in breastfeeding support in the UK.”

Catherine Hine, The Breastfeeding Network (BfN), said:

“This Report must be a wakeup call. BfN hears time and time again from tens of thousands of women and parents we support every year, that they need the UK to step up. The overwhelming majority of women and parents want to breastfeed their children. The breastfeeding journeys of many of these families – especially those already in crisis – are heart-breakingly difficult or cut short.

“The solution is not to ignore either the voices of the overwhelming majority of women and parents, or the public health benefits of more women breastfeeding as they wish. What is needed is a robust, national strategy and long-term investment for UK families to benefit from comprehensive high-quality information and support. This must go hand in hand with government-led action to regulate marketing by a multi-billion-dollar industry, whose sustained attack on breastfeeding undermines women’s choice and mental health.”

Alison Morton, iHV CEO said:

“The iHV fully supports the WBTi Report’s recommendations, calling for better infant feeding policies, practices and support across the UK. Whilst the Report presents a mixed picture, with some improvements and areas of excellence that deserve recognition – the overall performance of the UK remains woefully poor, with unjustifiable variations in performance between the UK nations. Infant feeding support cannot be left to chance! The UK is one of the richest nations in the world, and families should expect a health and care system that is designed to achieve better outcomes. Supporting the highest standards for infant feeding is not only the right thing to do, it also makes sound economic sense.”

The WBTi Report sets out key recommendations:

National strategy – UK Government to establish a securely-funded national feeding strategy, time-bound action plan, multi-sectoral committee and national coordinator for England.
UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative – UK Government to fully fund time-bound implementation and maintenance of BFI accreditation in all healthcare and community settings, as a service requirement.
UK infant formula legislation – UK government to:
- Widen the scope of the legislation to include marketing of all formula milks up to age 36 months, equipment (primarily bottles and teats) and digital marketing.
- Strengthen monitoring and enforcement of regulations.
Maternity protection – Governments to:
- Increase maternity, paternity and shared parental pay to at least the National Minimum Wage.
- Enact a statutory right to paid flexible breastfeeding breaks and suitable facilities to breastfeed, express and store milk in workplaces/education.
Health professional training – standards to include infant feeding as a mandatory pre-registration element for health workers who care for mothers, babies and young children.
Breastfeeding support services – Governments to:
- Maintain adequate maternity and health visiting staffing levels.
- All local authorities to commission integrated services meeting Baby Friendly standards: universal care from BFI-trained health professionals, a skilled peer support network and specialist services.
- Government/health departments to establish national standards for infant feeding roles.
Infant feeding in emergencies – national governments to develop and implement policies for Infant and Young Feeding during Emergencies (IYCFE) preparedness planning and responses, aligned with global guidance.

Read the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative: Full UK Report, Summary and Nation Scorecards here

Members of the WBTi Core Group include:

Association of Breastfeeding Mothers (ABM)
Baby Milk Action
Baby Feeding Law Group
Breastfeeding Alliance
Breastfeeding Network (BfN)
First Steps Nutrition Trust (FSNT)
GP Infant Feeding Network (GPIFN)
Hospital Infant Feeding Network (HIFN)
Institute of Health Visiting (iHV)
Lactation Consultants of Great Britain (LCGB)
La Leche League GB (LLLGB)
L Leicester Mammas
Maternity Action
NCT
Royal College of Midwives (RCM)
UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI)
University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN)

Baby Feeding Law Group UK: Misconceptions about the UK law on the marketing of infant formula

The Baby Feeding Law Group UK (BFLG-UK) has developed a briefing note to clarify misconceptions about the UK infant formula marketing laws.

This new briefing document is intended for use by journalists, policy makers, politicians, and health care professionals, including health visitors. It has been produced to clarify the intention of current UK law on the marketing of infant formula and to dispel some misinterpretations that have been seen recently in the media.

The current UK legislation on restricting the marketing of infant formula is informed by the WHO Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. However, since the legislation contains only ‘some’ provisions and it is poorly enforced, the reality is that the current UK law provides limited protection for breastfeeding and does not properly enable safe and appropriate formula feeding.

The BFLG-UK briefing highlights how:
“misinformation can do damage, especially with regard to public health and the protection of the most vulnerable groups in the population, including infants and young children. Misinformation is false information that can be spread either by mistake or intentionally and has the potential to cause substantial harm to individuals and society”.

Promote the facts and clarify the misconceptions in your practice:

Fact: Legal restrictions on infant formula marketing exist to protect all babies, no matter how they are fed.
Misconception: Legal restrictions on infant formula marketing exist to protect and encourage breastfeeding only.
Fact: Restricting inappropriate marketing of infant formula does not limit its accessibility. It is inaccessible when its price is unaffordable.
Misconception: Legal restrictions on infant formula marketing limits its accessibility.
Fact: Restricting inappropriate marketing of infant formula does not cause high prices. High prices are largely the result of high profit margins and large marketing budgets.
Misconception: Legal restrictions on infant formula marketing are causing high prices.
Fact: Shoppers need to spend hundreds of pounds to accrue sufficient points to purchase a single tin of infant formula. This is not a means to improve accessibility to families on the lowest incomes.
Misconception: Not allowing rewards scheme points to buy infant formula is preventing families from accessing it.
Fact: There are no legal restrictions preventing families from using store gifts cards (and equivalents) issued by food banks to buy infant formula.
Misconception: Legal restrictions prevent families from using foodbank vouchers to buy infant formula.
Fact: Legal restrictions on infant formula marketing exist to safeguard the health of all babies, however they are fed.
Misconception: Legal restrictions on infant formula marketing are inappropriate.

Within the briefing, First Steps Nutrition Trust who are the current Secretariat for the BFLG UK make four specific recommendations, with important actions that the Government could and should be taking now, to ensure that all families using formula to feed their babies can be enabled to do so safely. These are:

Improvement of the Healthy Start scheme.
A public health messaging campaign around the nutritional equivalence of all first infant formula.
Enforcement of existing legislation designed to prevent inappropriate marketing of formula milks and to protect breastfeeding AND safe and appropriate formula feeding and strengthening of this legislation in line with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent World Health Assembly Resolutions.
Government establishment of pricing policies and practices to ensure infant formula is provided at lower prices on a long-term basis (e.g., through a price cap).

What is the Baby Feeding law Group:
The Institute of Health Visiting is a member of the Baby Feeding Law Group UK. The group brings together organisations and individual members who work together to protect infant, young child and maternal health by ending marketing practices that commercialise infant feeding, mislead consumers and threaten breastfeeding.

To read the full briefing and for more information see First Steps Nutrition Press release and Baby Feeding Law Group UK website.

Infant Feeding Survey to be reinstated this year

We were delighted to learn this week that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has commissioned Ipsos to run an Infant Feeding Survey in 2023.

The Institute of Health Visiting, alongside many organisations and charities working to support breastfeeding and responsive infant feeding, has been calling for the reinstatement of a national Infant Feeding Survey since it was stopped in 2010. Previously, the Infant Feeding Survey (IFS) was conducted every five years between 1975 and 2010. Valuable data on infant feeding trends were collected in the eight IFS reports that were published during this time.

Following what has been described as ‘an extensive period of development’, on Monday 9 October, DHSC announced that the Infant Feeding Survey 2023 (IFS) for England will begin in mid-October. The reinstatement of the IFS is good news – the lack of evidence on infant feeding practices over the last 13 years has significantly limited our ability to track progress on the prevalence and duration of breastfeeding, and this has hampered policy and practice developments in this area. The main aim of the survey is to provide estimates on the incidence, prevalence, and duration of breastfeeding and other feeding practices adopted by mothers in the first year after their baby is born, as well as wider influences on feeding choices.

This will be the first IFS since the survey was last conducted in 2010 and will provide valuable information on infant feeding behaviours and related factors including:

internationally comparable data on prevalence and duration of breastfeeding
the use of foods and drinks other than breastmilk in infancy
infant feeding help and information received by mothers
information about bottle and breastfeeding in public places
parental leave, return to work, working hours and facilities provided for expressing and storing breastmilk, or breastfeeding at work

DHSC and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) have started sharing information on the survey to raise awareness among potential survey participants. This includes the placement of posters in maternity units and postnatal settings, and posts on social media channels. Through these channels, people will be directed to the IFS website where they can find further information on the IFS and opt out from taking part, if required.

Gail Barker, iHV Expert Adviser for Infant Feeding said:

“The IFS 2023 is a really exciting step forward. It will allow us to gain a current viewpoint on infant feeding practices, based on today’s parents, to help us influence and inform health visiting practice to better meet families’ needs. It is really positive to think about the opportunities this will provide for us in better understanding the influences on parents’ infant feeding decisions – the opportunity to consider infant feeding through the lens of today’s modern society with all of its digital influences, the post-COVID impact, the way we work, and the makeup of families in 2023.

“The survey findings will also provide valuable information on the extent of commercial influences and the marketing of other food and drinks on breastfeeding decisions, alongside the all-important service provision for families. These will all influence how we move forward with our Family Hubs and improve support for families.”

Who will take part in the survey?

DHSC and Ipsos will be contacting more than 20,000 mothers who have recently given birth to take part in this survey. Only individuals who have been selected for the IFS and receive an invitation letter will be able to participate in the survey. Ipsos will only be contacting a random selection of mothers who gave birth in Summer 2023, so not all mothers will be receiving a survey.

What does the IFS involve?

Individuals who have been selected to take part in the IFS will receive an invitation to complete a questionnaire that will be sent to them when their baby is around 9-12-weeks-old. If they complete the first questionnaire, and consent to further contact, they will receive a second questionnaire when their baby is around 4-6 months and a third at around 8-10 months after the birth.

Ipsos will start sending the IFS out in mid-October 2023. If anyone does not want to be included in the study, or receive a survey, they can complete the form on the opting out of the survey page.

How can you help?

Please promote the survey where you work and encourage women to complete it if selected.

You can find out more about the Infant Feeding Survey 2023 on the IFS website.

Get ready for National Breastfeeding Week (18-24 September 2023)

This year’s National Breastfeeding Week will be taking place from 18-24 September. The week is being promoted by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) ‘Better Health Start for Life Breastfeeding’ team and builds on last year’s theme, ‘Everyone has a part to play in helping mums to breastfeed’. This will include daily themes and activities showing how families, community and health and education services all have a part to play in supporting mothers to have the feeding experience they hoped for.

The DHSC team have produced an extensive suite of free resources and campaign materials to help support any planned activity, to promote local activities and signpost your local population to their breastfeeding support tools, such as the Start for Life Breastfeeding Hub. There is still time to get involved.

The 2023 National Breastfeeding Week social media toolkit is available to help you promote the week in your area and through your social media channels. The toolkit contains:

9 x Images
Content calendar containing:
Suggested post copy
Web links
Suggested timeline for posts

Download the toolkit here and help spread the message of this year's theme 'Everyone has a part to play in helping mums to breastfeed'

To support National Breastfeeding Week at the iHV, we will have an infant feeding stand at our iHV Evidence-based Practice Conference on Thursday 21 September, with an extensive suite of free resources and campaign materials. If you are attending our conference in person, stop by and say hello to our team and Expert Adviser for infant feeding. We will be distributing free resources to support your work, including:

The ‘Off to the best start breastfeeding’ A4 leaflet and wallet card, as well as a wallet card dispenser
Empty belly posters to allow partners to add local information on breastfeeding
Editorial content for use in local publications

Follow #NationalBreastfeedingWeek on Twitter for all the latest activity.

iHV Insights – last week’s recording now available

Don’t worry if you missed last week’s iHV Insights webinar on “Inspiring excellence in breastfeeding support – the health visitor role”, as the recording and resources are now available for our members.

Our iHV Insights webinars are available to iHV Members only, just one of the many perks of being part of the iHV.

On 28 October, we were joined by a fabulous panel of experts who were able to provide an update on the evidence and lots of helpful tips on supporting families with breastfeeding.

Our expert panel of speakers:

Alison Spiro – Independent breastfeeding advisor Honorary Lecturer, Brunel University – Building parental self-efficacy in breastfeeding
Gail Barker – Health Visitor Professional Lead for Devon Public Health Nursing – Infant Feeding. A wider public health approach needed
Phil – A dad’s perspective of breastfeeding (interview with Gail Barker)

As with all our iHV Insights webinars, resources are available for iHV members to access as a free member benefit after the event.

So, if you are already a member head over to our iHV Insights page now and check out our latest iHV Insights Or join us today and gain access to future iHV Insights webinars, as well as the recordings of past sessions.

Go to iHV Insights

We hope this library of iHV Insights will provide a valuable “bite-sized” CPD resource for all members to use as part of your ongoing learning and revalidation.

iHV Insights* – Dates for your 2022 Diary

20 January 2022 15:30 – 16:30
17 February 2022 15:30 – 16:30
24 March 2022 15:30 – 16:30

* Our iHV Insights are regularly scheduled. Whilst we’d like to publish topics in advance, we will confirm those closer to the time to ensure that they are the topics that are current. When booking your member place via Eventbrite – don’t forget you’ll need your membership number as the access code.

Bookings now open for October iHV Insights

Our 12th iHV Insights webinar takes place on Thursday 28 October 2021 from 3:30 to 4:30 pm.

This will cover the topic of: “Inspiring excellence in breastfeeding support, the health visitor role”.

We are pleased to announce that our expert panel of speakers includes:

Alison Spiro, Independent Consultant
Gail Barker, Health Visitor Professional Lead for Devon Public Health Nursing
Father’s voice, pre-recorded talk.

The webinar will also be recorded and will be available to iHV members on our website after the event.

Please join us.

How to book for iHV members

Go to our EventBrite booking page and please use your iHV membership number as your access code. If you have any problems or enquiries please email [email protected] and we will be happy to help.

Once you have submitted your details, you will be able to select your ticket and proceed to checkout – please note that this webinar is free to iHV members.

Go to EventBrite booking page

Previous iHV Insights

The great news is that recordings of all the iHV Insights webinars are available for iHV members to access as a free member benefit after the event.

Click here to catch up on our fabulous iHV Insights sessions – don’t forget to log in to access.

About iHV Insights

iHV Insights are webinars run just for our members.

These live online sessions are of interest to frontline health visitors and student health visitors, as well as service leads, commissioners and wider members of the health visiting team, both in the UK and with lots of transferable learning for our international members too.

If you are not an iHV member, join us today to access these resources and many other member benefits.

COVID-19 vaccines, pregnancy, fertility and breastfeeding webinar

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) are hosting a webinar tomorrow (Wednesday 14 April) for maternity staff on COVID vaccines – however, all are welcome to attend by registering via the link below.

This RCOG and RCM event is a fantastic opportunity to hear and ask questions about the latest advice, research and guidance on how to counsel pregnant women offered a COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccine hesitancy among healthcare professionals and in those with concerns about fertility or breastfeeding will also be covered.

This webinar is essential viewing anyone working in primary care and maternity services, as COVID-19 vaccines are offered to more pregnant women at higher risk of serious illness, including those with gestational diabetes.

Wednesday 14 April 2021 | 19:30 – 21:00

Register here for – COVID vaccines, pregnancy, fertility and breastfeeding webinar

A Public Health Nursing Infant Feeding Service during COVID-19 – World Breastfeeding Week 2020

This week is World Breastfeeding Week 2020, running from 1-7 August. The week aims to raise awareness of the links between good nutrition, food security, poverty reduction and breastfeeding, and galvanise action to increase breastfeeding rates.

2020 has brought new challenges as infant feeding support services have needed to quickly adapt to the restrictions of COVID-19 lockdown and physical distancing. However, these conditions have also provided the opportunity for services to innovate and work together to ensure that women and babies receive the support that they need to successfully breastfeed.

We are delighted to be able to showcase the innovative work of the health visiting infant feeding service in Devon led by Gail Barker, Infant Feeding Coordinator Devon Public Health Nursing. This peer-reviewed case study has been selected for inclusion as part of our “Making History: Health Visiting during COVID-19” collection of case studies due to be published later this month.

Gail’s case study presents 12 learning points that contain a wealth of transferable tips gathered by the health visiting service in Devon during the first 12 weeks of the implementation of their adapted support service. Their experiences will resonate with others facing similar challenges which Gail outlines, “Staff were scared, families vulnerable. We needed to continue to keep everyone, families and staff alike safe, informed and supported with infant feeding challenges. We needed to be able to assess latch, build peer relationships, support growth and development, promote, protect and support breastfeeding, all whilst working in an integrated manner with our partners and parents”.

Commenting on the importance of supporting breastfeeding during these challenging times, Gail Barker said:

“Improving the UK’s breastfeeding rates is acknowledged as a key factor in improving the health of a population. Through being able to continue to support infant feeding via video teleconferencing at such a challenging time, we were able to support and promote the health of each baby and mother supported by our service. We know that infant feeding supports not only the building of close and loving relationships, which in turn promotes mental health of both mother and baby (Unicef, 2019), but it also has significant health impacts and reduces health inequalities (Victora et al 2016). At this time of COVID-19, it has never been more important to focus on children in view of these considerations for now and for the future, not just in the UK, but globally”.

Read Gail Barker's case study

Please see further resources and blogs to support breastfeeding during COVID-19:

Download iHV Parent Tips: Supporting breastfeeding during COVID-19

Read Dr Alison Spiro’s Voices blog published during England’s breastfeeding awareness week in June 2020 – Breastfeeding during the COVID-19 crisis