Parsleysoup

There is breastfeeding support available too. There are some drop-ins in Lerwick and there are a number of mums who have been trained as supporters to help mums during the normal course of breastfeeding. A few more mums are being trained further to become full breastfeeding counsellors. Training is being provided by The Breastfeeding Network. As far as I am aware I am the only fully qualified breastfeeding counsellor currently in Shetland. I volunteer on the National Breastfeeding Helpline most weekday mornings, and Shetland mums ringing during that time will mainly get through to me. I'm on Yell so its tricky for me to see mums face to face but am happy to offer support and information both during pregnancy and throughout a breastfeeding journey, no matter how long it lasts

Whether or not Nurture Shetland would promote baby wearing and slings would depend entirely on if we decide to be associated with BFN or not. BFN have a very strict code of practice and absolutely no product endorsement is allowed, even if in the case of slings they actually beneficial to nursing. At BFN groups Nestle products are banned too. There's been a fair bit of discussion about what Nurture Shetland should be aiming for, and it was decided that we need to focus on Bfing, as we can access health funding, and TBH we didn't want to spread ourselves too thin. But there's no reason why a baby wearing group couldn't be set up along the lines of one I was on in the Highlands - it was on a yahoo board. It may be possible to link up a baby wearing meet up with the drop ins - I can mention it next time I see the others. I'm not sure what's going on with the Aith drop in. I notice its not on our next rota. We currently need to have a health professional at drop ins, so we have to co ordinate a HV or MW with a volunteer and a venue and availability. We have no one in Aith so maybe it was getting too tricky. I've just moved house so am a bit out of the loop just now. I'm pretty sure we will have a presence at some of the shows this summer - last year we recruited our first wave of mums and we are wanting to train more women to spread a support network throughout Shetland. Some mums may want to go on for further counsellor training too. You can train with any of the UK BFing organisations, though some are easier than others for remote learning i trained with the The Association Of Breastfeeding Mothers http://abm.me.uk/training-association-breastfeeding-mothers-1 I did all my training from home so it was easy to fit in with small kids and living well away from main population centres. I am the only breastfeeding counsellor here as far as I know. I've only been on Shetland for a year and I do claim the 'most northerly BFC' title I'm still waiting on a reply to an email to check who is the best person to contact with regards to training. I'll post it when i know

I don't know if you are aware of the Infant Feeding support groups set up and running, mainly in Lerwick, but there's one in Aith. A group called Nurture Shetland is in the process of being set up - its a group of mums who have been trained by the Breastfeeding Network, working with NHS Shetland the the Gilbert Bain midwives, so they can offer support and information to breastfeeding mums. There's also me, a trained breastfeeding counsellor - I work on the National Breastfeeding helpline too. I know we chatted about Breastfeeding Awareness week, the UK one isn't officially happening due to cuts in funding. I didn't make the last meeting so I don't know if anything was talked about. I know we will be wanting to train up more mums in the near future. If anyone is interested I'll check who best to contact and let you know