We know that breastfeeding has many benefits for parents, babies and families both in the short and longer term.

Torbay’s Family Hubs Infant Feeding Network
Torbay’s Family Hubs Infant Feeding network is a collaboration between healthcare and people with lived experience including parents and those working in the NHS, Action for Children, Torbay Local Authority, and the Torbay voluntary sector.

Infant Feeding in Torbay
Breastfeeding can be hard. Eight out of ten mums stop breastfeeding before they want to, and the UK has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates globally. We know the infant feeding responsibility does not sit with individual mothers and is a wider, more complex issue that involves the whole family, community and health systems.

Peer Support
A breastfeeding peer supporter is a volunteer who has breastfed or provided breast milk for their child and has completed a recognized training program to provide support to other breastfeeding mothers and families

Peer supporters are not health professionals or ‘breastfeeding experts’ but should be considered more of a knowledgeable friend.

Breastfeeding peer support aims to fill a gap by linking mothers who want to breastfeed to others who have personal experience and some training. Peer support is recommended by the World Health Organization (pdf) and forms part of UK NICE guidance on maternal and child nutrition and on routine postnatal care. The Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative standards require that additional support such as peer support is provided and that services work together to ensure that mothers can get additional help as needed.

Breastfeeding peer support can take many forms. Peer supporters all have lived experience of breastfeeding and have completed training in how to support others. They can support on the phone, on the maternity ward, at a face to face or walking group. It can be home visits, social media, online chat or email support. It can be about a specific feeding issue, a general chat with someone who has time to listen or a place to meet local mums and parents who are breastfeeding.