Breastfeeding provides babies with the ideal form of nutrition because it has the perfect amount of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and iron to help your baby grow. Breast milk also changes to suit the different needs of your baby as it grows.

Great reasons to breastfeed your baby:

• Breast milk is the only natural food designed for your baby
• Breastfeeding protects your baby from infections and diseases
• Breast milk provides health benefits for your baby
• Breastfeeding provides health benefits for mum
• It’s available whenever and wherever your baby needs a feed
• It’s the right temperature
• It can build a strong physical and emotional bond between mother and baby
• It can give you a great sense of achievement
• It’s FREE!

   Useful tip! - Breastfeeding support at your local children's centre

   Breastfeeding support at your local centre…

   Sunderland Children’s Centres are dedicated to helping mams, and new mams

   especially, as breastfeeding can be hard. Centres can help by providing a wide

   range of support and advice from newborn feeding, expressing, weaning, and

   breastfeeding when pregnant.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can find support to help with breastfeeding your child…

Bosom Buddies:

Bosom Buddies is a support group for breastfeeding mams, run by local mothers who have breastfed and completed a course to support new parents. Groups meet on a regular basis, giving parents the opportunity to get together to share experiences and information. Many parents have also said that they’ve found the group a great way to socialise and make new friends.

Le Leche:

La Leche League is a registered charity that provides breastfeeding training for health care professionals, through courses and the acclaimed Breastfeeding Peer Counsellor Programme. Being a Le Leche peer counsellor means you can provide information, encouragement and support to local mams who are finding breastfeeding difficult, frustrating or want to give up.

The overall aim of Le Leche is to provide high quality training at a local level to help mams support other mams to breastfeed in their area.

Local stories from local mams…

Eight mums from the Coalfields area of Sunderland have qualified as Le Leche peer supporter. They now support other breastfeeding mams in the area by giving them extra support and helping them to feed their children as nature intended.

Here are some of the comments from Coalfields peer supporters:

“The course has given me more confidence about dispelling the myths about breastfeeding" Justyna

"I found it really interesting and informative. It has made me more confident about talking to other people about breastfeeding" Julie

"I have learnt a lot and it has helped me to continue breastfeeding my baby and given me more confidence in helping others" Ruth

"I knew I was giving my daughter the best start in life but doing this course reinforced what I knew was right. I now pass my knowledge onto anyone who listens" Andrea