The Baby Friendly staff are humbled to work alongside such dedicated volunteers
24th November 2020
Submitted by Katie Taylor-Rossall, East Lancashire Hospitals Trust
Our Baby Friendly team is a collective of midwives, Trust volunteers and volunteers from a local group Families and Babies (FAB), who work together to support new and expecting parents to give their babies the best start in life.
This volunteer role provides information and support to new parents, with a focus on infant feeding and relationship building as per the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) Standards.
The BFI is revolutionising healthcare for babies, their mothers and families in the UK, as part of a wider global partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.
Volunteers receive additional training to certify them as BFI Trained Supporters, and ongoing training to ensure they're able to give parents the best and most accurate advice, encouraging breastfeeding, while supporting all methods of feeding. Volunteers listen to concerns of new parents, offer advice and guidance to help make their experience better.
This service which has been supporting parents on our postnatal ward has recently expanded to support parents in antenatal clinics to help parents prepare for what's to come, and to our neonatal unit, providing help and support in what is sometimes the most difficult of circumstances.
The Baby Friendly staff are humbled to work alongside such dedicated volunteers and recognise how vital they are in delivering an award-winning service.
Staff and volunteers work closely together, confidentially sharing information about patient experiences to ensure continual improvements. One thing in particular that jumps out is the hand expressing rates and how the volunteers have helped towards the tremendous increase over the years by working in antenatal and postnatal services!
From 20% in July 2018 to 97% in May 2020, meaning more and more babies (including babies on NICU) are receiving colostrum and mum's have learnt a new skill to help them on their breastfeeding journey.
One volunteer said:
"I feel very privileged to be part of the NICU team, it is a role that is very close to my heart. It is an opportunity to reach out and care for families dealing with the challenges of having a baby on the NICU. It is an opportunity to offer a helping hand to fellow NICU staff and give my undivided attention to babies and families needing feeding support. It is an opportunity to just listen and offer emotional support for families walking this very difficult path. It is knowing that the training I received and consequently the help I can offer can make a significant difference in the lives of these families. "
Staff in the team are continuously in contact with volunteers sharing specific achievements and thanks, for example a staff member emailed a volunteer to share that she had helped 115 antenatal mothers in the previous 12 month period and included a message of thanks.
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