Mothers and babies being failed by lack of breastfeeding services during pandemic, says Chesterfield mum

Claire Riley gave birth to a baby girl, Edie, in April, ‘right in the middle’ of lockdown- but although her daughter was healthy, she ran into problems with feeding.

"I was very lucky that the midwives at the hospital were amazing and my baby girl was healthy,” said Claire. "Although it was tough not seeing friends and family at this time.

"However, my problems continued when I started to struggle to breastfeed. The pain was excruciating but I was just told it’s normal. I now know that it isn’t normal and it shouldn’t be happening.”

Claire, 29, was discharged from the midwife after 10 days and received visits from a health visitor. But she is still unable to feed her child, who is now 12 weeks old.

"I have been told there is no help available,” Claire went on. “All breastfeeding specialists have been sent to work in other departments, so there is nobody to come and help me.

"I have been told Edie may have tongue-tie, but there is nobody to check and no waiting list for when the service resumes.

"I have resorted to expressing and feeding her with a bottle, but I would love to breastfeed her.

“I find it crazy that I can go to the pub for a drink but I can’t get help to feed my child,” Claire added. “They promote breast is best but when the help isn’t available and accessible it puts a lot of pressure on your own mental health."

Claire contacted Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins, who has since written to the Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Trust asking what support is available for breastfeeding mothers.

Breastfeeding is known to reduce the risk of infection as well as future obesity and diabetes for the baby, while benefits to mums include a reduced risk of ovarian and breast cancer.

Support was lacking even before the pandemic after the UK-wide Better Breastfeeding campaign discovered that at least 44 per cent of local authority areas in England were affected by cuts or closures to breastfeeding services in 2018.

Claire has encouraged struggling mums to speak up and says she has been ‘overwhelmed’ by the response.

"The midwives and health visitors have all been fantastic in the areas that they could help in, and my health visitor has gone above and beyond,” she said.

"I was also extremely impressed with the speed of the response from the MP and the actions he took.

"I want to thank the NHS with what they have done over this challenging time.

"Me, my husband and Edie were outside every Thursday clapping for the NHS, even when she was two days old. It’s is not their fault they haven’t been able to help.”

A spokesperson for Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has been the toughest challenge on record for the NHS and we are working hard to support the national response.

"Early in the pandemic we reviewed our service provision to build capacity and resilience in our most critical services – all in line with a nationally agreed framework.

“Our health visiting service has continued throughout, carrying out hundreds of essential new birth visits for local families.

"We have also introduced a range of ‘virtual’ service delivery options, to minimise the risk of Covid-19 transmission and provide the safest possible service.

"Parents requiring breastfeeding advice are currently being supported through a dedicated telephone advice line – they can contact us on 01246 515100.

"They can also access our new ‘ChatHealth’ service, a confidential and secure NHS text messaging service to get advice from experienced clinicians.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

Nancy Fielder, editor