Supporting breastfeeding online | from NHS Lanarkshire

The Infant Feeding Team in Lanarkshire has developed a range of ways to continue providing support to new mothers.

Support is based around virtual appointments (NHS Near Me), telephone calls and a Facebook group. The NHS Lanarkshire Mums and Babies webpage has been maintained to ensure that there is reliable information regarding COVID-19 guidance and parenting.

They have also reprioritised their workload and provided additional support to new mothers in the postnatal wards and neonatal unit to ensure that even when stays were shorter than previously, women were well supported and had the knowledge and skills to manage breastfeeding at home.

The benefits of this approach are that the call times can be exactly when the baby is ready to feed, more support calls can be scheduled due to less travel time and the service can continue as staff self-isolating can still take calls.

In addition the new online space has resulted in a greater level of peer support.

Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/NHS-Lanarkshire-Mums-Babies-1143509525809542/
https://twitter.com/the_lbi?lang=en