How much do you know about breastfeeding?
June 19 to 25 was national breastfeeding awareness week 2011. Everyone has heard the cliché “breast is best”, but how much do you really know about it? The Tower Hamlets breastfeeding team put together a quiz for you to test your knowledge.
Click here when you’re ready to look at the answers.
Help
for mums
More than 90 per cent of babies in Tower Hamlets breastfeed on the day
they are born, but many mothers stop breastfeeding earlier than they
planned. With the right information and good support, nearly every mother
will be able to breastfeed comfortably and will produce all the milk her baby
needs.
Tower Hamlets has an excellent breastfeeding support services
provided by a team of highly-skilled workers who speak English, Bengali and
Somali. Support is offered in hospital,
at clinics, on home visits and at breastfeeding groups. Download our support leaflet for details ofbreastfeeding groups and telephone helplines which are open in the evenings and
at weekends.
Our breastfeeding support team is available Monday to Friday on
079 6160 9626. There is a breastfeeding
drop-in group open on Sundays, 2pm until 4pm at the Barkantine, 121 Westferry Road, E14 8JH. All welcome.
No appointment needed.
Tower
Hamlets is breastfeeding welcome
Over
120 venues in the borough have signed up to the breastfeeding welcome
scheme. The Royal London
Hospital is part of the scheme and features
quiet rooms and spaces for breastfeeding mums in the antenatal and outpatient
areas. All visitors to the hospital who are breastfeeding may use these
facilities.
All
Idea Stores, libraries and pharmacies and children’s centres welcome mothers to feed anywhere that they are comfortable
and will provide a private place for breastfeeding if preferred. The Registry Office, Town Hall, One Stop
Shops and a number of housing offices have joined the scheme. There is also a wide range of cafes, shops,
hairdressers and other venues displaying the distinctive pink “We are breastfeeding welcome” logo.
Breastfeeding in Tower Hamlets
The number
of mothers breastfeeding their babies in Tower Hamlets has doubled in the past
five years according to new information released today by Barts and The London
NHS Trust.
The
announcement came in June 2011 as staff at The Royal London prepared to
celebrate their annual breastfeeding awareness week with new mothers and babies
on the wards.
Joy
Hastings, breastfeeding project coordinator and midwife at Barts and the Royal
London said research showed that 51.6 per cent of mothers exclusively breastfed their
babies in 2010-11 compared to 25.9 per cent of mums in 2005-06.
“In that
same period, the number of mums feeding their babies formula milk dropped from
18.8 per cent to 9 per cent,” Ms Hastings said.
“With
approximately 4000 births at the Royal
London Hospital
every year these are very promising figures and prove that our range of
initiatives to help new mums breastfeed are working.
“Breastfeeding
can be challenging for new mums and at least 2000 mothers require the support
of our midwives and breastfeeding support workers every year to help them
learn."
Becoming baby Friendly
To ensure that all mothers get the information and support they
need to breastfeed their babies for as long as they wish, NHS Tower
Hamlets is implementing the UNICEF
baby-friendly best practice standards, working in partnership with
Barts and the London NHS Trust and local children’s centres.
The Royal
London is working towards becoming the first ‘Baby Friendly’ hospital in
central London and having already achieved the first two stages of the award
hopes to become fully accredited by the end of the year. This official worldwide
benchmark is awarded by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation to hospitals
that show a high standard of care for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers
and babies.
Breastfeeding information
Breastfeeding offers
your baby protection from sudden infant death, asthma, eczema, serious
infections, allergies, childhood diabetes and obesity. At the same time, mothers are offered some
protection against breast cancer, ovarian cancer and osteoporosis.
Breastfeeding is normal and natural and provides all the nutrients
a baby needs. The proven health benefits are overwhelming for babies and their
mothers.
For more information about breastfeeding, see www.breastfeeding.nhs.uk.
Contact us
For more information on breastfeeding in Tower Hamlets ask a midwife or health visitor, or contact our breastfeeding support team.
