Cafés give baby a Sure Start in life
Breastfeeding is going through a funny old stage at the moment. Like motherhood and apple pie it is, in itself, so obviously a Good Thing that it is rarely a matter for debate, especially here in the NW-something postcodes.
But, like everything else, you only need a couple of people to go Too Far to ruin it for the rest of us. It started in America, of course, where some mothers seem to see breastfeeding as a kind of competitive sport.
So we've been treated to the pros and cons of breastfeeding children old enough to walk and, in some cases, go to school. It's one way of sorting out school meals, but I can't
see it latching on.
Mocking breastfeeding mothers is easy - look at Little Britain's Bitty sketch, a one trick pony if ever there was one: "ageing posh bird breastfeeds adult son" - hilarious - let's use it every week.
But, once you know how, it is the easiest way to feed a new baby, especially if, like me, you lock yourself out on a regular basis and find counting to six difficult, never mind measuring out six scoops of milk and six fluid ounces of cooled boiled water in the middle of the night.
According to the National Childbirth Trust, which founded and ran the recent Breastfeeding Awareness Week, breastfeeding can help stabilise a baby's bloodsugar, lower the risk of heart disease for premature babies and halve babies' risk of chest infections up to the age
of seven.
But the truth is that Hampstead mothers are, as in
so many things, a fortunate minority. To put it crudely, the younger, less educated and poorer a mother is, the less likely she is to consider that breastfeeding is for her.
According to the Office for National Statistics' infant feeding survey, published in May 2000, more than three-quarters of mothers aged 30 or over breastfed compared with less than half of mothers aged 20 or under.
And mothers who remained in full-time education until they were 18 were more than three times more likely to breastfeed their babies to four and six months than mothers who left school at 16 or under.
These are statistics that midwives, breastfeeding counsellors and supportive volunteers - mothers who have been there done that and cried all over the T-shirt - are working hard to reverse.
They have started slowly, but surely, by opening three Sure Start Baby Cafés, comfortable, friendly drop-in sessions where women can learn and practice breastfeeding in comfort, in King's Cross, Kentish Town and Kilburn - all areas where there are relatively high numbers of younger poorer and less educated mothers.
Peer support is a crucial way of encouraging women to try breastfeeding, explains Ruth Tamir, who runs the Baby Café at Talacre Sports Centre in Kentish Town.
"When it works, it's wonderful. We all want to work together to make breastfeeding a more conscious decision," she says, adding that, once learnt, few mothers looked back.
"It's like riding a bicycle," she says, while pointing out that, similarly, it doesn't always happen overnight or by magic and "it's a learned skill".
And, like any skill, you sometimes need to perfect it in safety and relative privacy, explains Idina Dunmore, who along with Karen Shah, runs the new Baby Café in the Coram Family Parents Centre. This centre, in King's Cross, was gently buzzing last week as Katherine Umutoni gently fed her seven-month-old baby daughter, Micaela, her lunch with a spoon.
She came to the café a couple of weeks ago when she went back to college and wanted help to wean her daughter from the breast.
At just 20 herself, with a two-year-old daughter, Keira, as well, she knows exactly why some young mothers choose to bottle feed.
"They think it will make their breasts go down and they get embarrassed about feeding in public," she says. "But what they don't realise is that their breasts won't remain as full anyway whether they feed or not. In Rwanda (her home country) everyone breastfeeds, so I wanted to. It's much healthier for the baby, but at first it did feel strange."
Sarah Richardson, whose 11-week-old baby Alana was beaming and burping happily after her feed, would not still be breastfeeding without the café.
"I had lots of problems with breastfeeding at first but it's settled down," she says, adding that the tips and support she picked up from midwives and fellow mothers helped her
carry on.
Getting help early is crucial, explains Jean Waldman, Infant Feeding Advisor at the Royal Free Hospital, in Hampstead, because you don't have much time to master the skill.
As part of the hospital's commitment to breastfeeding, it opened a new sitting room for nursing mothers near the labour ward this week.
More importantly it's about midwives being brave enough to be proactive and admit that, although breastfeeding may be "natural", it does not necessarily mean we all pick it up instinctively.
And, like riding a bike, it can be easy, if someone has taken the time to physically show you how to do it and pop you straight back on again when
you fall.
o The Sure Start Baby Café at Talacre Sports Centre in Dalby Street is open Mondays 10am-12.30pm. Call Felicity Magnay on 020-7974 8976. King's Cross and Holborn Baby Café at Coram Family Parents Centre is at 49 Mecklenburgh Square, King's Cross. It is open Tuesdays 1pm to 3pm. Call Karen Shah or Idina Dumnore on 0800 7310232. Kilburn Priory Baby Café at Tenants Hall, Rowley Way, in Kilburn, is open Thursdays 11am to 1pm. Call Carol Jones on 020-7974 5083. If you're struggling to feed your baby, the NCT Breastfeeding Line is open
8am to 10pm every day on
0870 444 8708.
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