Breast Friends Cafe
This infomal, drop-in session meets every Wednesday from 12:30-2:00pm at the Cherry Trees Children’s Centre. NCT-trained breastfeeding counsellors and peers supporters will be on hand to provide information, support and a listening ear. Free. (Bring your own lunch.)
Brentwood NCT Breastfeeding Counsellors
If you have any questions about breastfeeding and would like support, you may call our local Breastfeeding Counsellor, Tracy, on 01277 223335, or pop along to Bumps and Babes at Sawyers Hall Church 1-3pm on Thursdays (term time).
Alternatively you can call the NCT Breastfeeding Line on 0300 33 00 771 (8am to 10pm, seven days a week). Breastfeeding is a new skill to learn and we all need help and support in learning new things. If you are finding it painful or if you have any questions at all about breastfeeding, stopping breastfeeding, expressing milk or any breastfeeding related matter do call. Counsellors love to hear from new mums and new mums tell us just how much they appreciate the support counsellors give.
Breastfeeding Peer Supporter Training
On 17 March, nine ladies got together for their first training session towards becoming breastfeeding peer supporters. The aim being that we will all be able to support our local breastfeeding cafes. For me, that will be the cafe, newly launched in partnership with the Sure Start children’s centres, at the Cherry Trees Children’s Centre in Knights Way in Brentwood every Wednesday from 12.30pm till 2pm.
This is an exciting development for the NCT in Brentwood as it is something we’ve had on our ‘To Do’ list for quite a while now. So to actually be sitting there today, with 4 other ladies from our committee, was brilliant and gave me a real sense that we are close to achieving our objective.
Whilst there is fantastic support in the area from the dedicated NCT breastfeeding counsellors (available to members and non members alike on 0300 3300771) and a great chance to meet up at the Bumps & Babes group (run by one of our breastfeeding counsellors Tracy, on Thursday afternoons, 1pm till 3pm, at Sawyers Hall Church) it is wonderful that we can now offer even more ways to support mums when breastfeeding. It is something that can be such a different experience for different people and which many people give up on due to a lack of support and guidance. All of us in the room today discussed our own breastfeeding experiences, which not only varied imensely but that I found invaluable as a reminder as to why we need to offer this support. I also left feeling very inspired by the stories I heard.
We shall we fully trained in 3 months time and are looking forward to supporting mums at the cafes. In the meantime we’ll keep you updated with how the training progresses.
If you are interested in becoming a peer supporter yourself then please look on our website at www.nct.org.uk/brentwood for more details.
Breast Pump Hire
You can hire electric breast pumps from our local volunteer agent at £44 per month (then £26 for each subsequent month). Contact Maria on 01277 224692.
Alternatively, breast pumps can be purchased through the NCT on 0845 8100 100 or http://www.nctshop.co.uk.
Personal Bra Fitting Service
Wearing a comfortable bra, designed for feeding, makes it easier for you to feed as often as your baby needs and will help you to breastfeed in a comfortable and practical way. The NCT has over 100 trained and experienced volunteer bra fitters who offer a FREE personal fitting service so you can be sure your bra is right for you. Email us on brentwoodNCT@yahoo.co.uk to contact your South Essex bra fitting volunteer or shop online for NCT feeding bras.
