Public Consultation Kent Community Infant Feeding Service
We often hear that old adage ‘breast is best’ but what does that mean?
Breast fed babies have fewer chest infections, serious tummy upsets and infections,
ear infections, and feeding difficulties. There are fewer cases of cot death in
breastfed babies and higher intelligence rates in children who have been breastfed.
Breastfeeding also reduces the risk of obesity, eczema, asthma and wheezing. A
recent report also indicates that breastfed babies are less likely to be admitted to
hospital for 10 different illnesses in the first year of life.
Mothers who breastfeed are less likely to suffer from breast cancer.
There are a number of groups of women who are less likely to breastfeed:
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Mothers living in more deprived areas.
Older women are more likely to breastfeed, teenage mothers least likely.
Mothers with other children have lower breastfeeding rates.
Non White-British ethnicities are more likely to continue breastfeeding.
Mothers of ‘normal’ weight babies are more likely to breastfeed
Mothers who smoke are less likely to breastfeed.
Mothers who are not of a healthy weight are less likely to breastfeed.
Not every mother can feed her baby but more support out there in our communities
would help those mothers who are finding it difficult. Rates of breastfeeding in Kent
are very low and breastfeeding advice and support provided in the community, for
example specialist advice, training, peer supporters, etc. is not provided everywhere.
It is therefore proposed that a Kent wide service is put in place which will fill the gaps
and provide extra support in areas with the lowest breastfeeding rates.
It is also important that negative attitudes and beliefs about breastfeeding are tackled
and the environment is more encouraging to breastfeeding mothers. This means
working in settings like schools, workplaces and town centres and also working with
the media.
Public Health has looked at the evidence and listened to some of the stories from
mothers and families and identified some main tasks for this service. We would like
to ask you if you think these are the right things to be doing.
In what capacity are you completing this questionnaire? (Please tick)
Responding as an individual
Responding as a professional
Tasks for a Kent Community Infant Feeding Service
For each task, please tick the answer which most applies to you and add anything
else you think is important, in the box provided.
Task
To fill the gaps in community breastfeeding support
so that there is access everywhere in Kent
To work more closely with women in ways that
women say they want
The service should make sure that it is working
well with other services for example midwives,
health visitors, children’s centres and GPs
To use local mothers who have already breastfed
their babies to give encouragement and support to
mothers who are finding it difficult
To provide a specialist service where women who
are experiencing more difficult problems can
receive help and advice for example linking with
tongue tie services
To assist all hospitals in Kent to improve their
breastfeeding support to mothers (through
achieving UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative
standards of care) for more information see
www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/
To assist health visiting services to improve their
breastfeeding support to mothers (through
achieving UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative
standards of care in the Community setting). For
more information see
www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/
To train and provide professional support to other
community services including GPs and their staff
and children’s centres
To ensure that more services are provided in the
areas where breastfeeding rates are low
To provide more information including a Kent wide
website
To promote breastfeeding using media, including
Breastfeeding Awareness Weeks
To work with maternity and health visitor leads to
promote Healthy Start benefits
To work with schools on breastfeeding education
To work with local councils to promote
breastfeeding friendly places including ‘Welcome’
signs in shops and restaurants etc.
To work with employers to make it easier for
breastfeeding women to return to work
To provide regular progress reports to show how
well the service is working
Agree
Disagree
Don’t
Know
Please add below anything else you think we should be doing:
About You …
We want to make sure that everyone is treated fairly and equally, and that no one
gets left out. To help us we are asking you for some information about yourself. This
information will only be used to help us make decisions about our services and for
the purposes of service improvement.
If you would rather not answer any of these questions, you do not have to, but
please go to the bottom of this page and click on ‘submit’ to ensure that we receive
your previous answers.
To which of these ethnic groups do you feel you belong? (Source: 2011 census)
White
Mixed
Asian or Asian Black or Black British
British
British
White & Black Caribbean
Indian
Caribbean
Irish
White & Black African
Pakistani
African
Gypsy/Roma
White & Asian
Bangladeshi
Other*
Irish Traveller
Other*
Other*
Other*
Arab
Chinese
I prefer not to say
*Other Ethnic Group – if your ethnic group is not specified in the list, please describe it here:
What is your religion?
No religion
Jewish
I prefer not to say
Christian
Muslim
Buddhist
Sikh
Hindu
Any other religion
Thank you for providing this information, your feedback is important to us.
Please return this form to:
Val Miller
Kent Public Health Department
Room 3.45 Sessions House
County Hall
Maidstone
Kent
ME14 1XQ