Staying Healthy

Breastfeeding

Local Initiatives

Be a Star – Social Marketing Campaign

The Social marketing Breastfeeding Campaign has now been finalised, and we are happy to announce the launch of the Be a Star campaign in York and Scarborough!  This campaign was developed in partnership with The Hub, a leading Social Marketing agency.

As part of the scoping phase The Hub carried out some research with stakeholders and young women. Click here to view the Insight Report. It was found that although impactful, the National Breastfeeding Campaigns were generally given less weight than the views of the young women’s immediate network; grandmothers and partners were found to be important influencers on feeding decisions.  Breastfeeding was also seen as something other more affluent women did and was deemed ‘earth motherish’.

The Be a Star campaign aims to increase breastfeeding initiation rates among young white mums (under 25) living in deprived areas. The campaign aims to make breastfeeding something for young mums by showing it can be glamorous and discreet.

The initial reaction to the Be a Star Campaign by the target audience has been positive and the core campaign messages are being understood.

These campaign messages are:

• Breastfeeding is an achievement.

• Breastfeeding makes a mum feel accomplished and attractive.

• Breastfeeding can be done discreetly.

• Breastfeeding offers health benefits for baby and mother.

• Breastfeeding can be done successfully by young mothers.

Also a key message to grandparents and partners is: let your loved ones know if you are positive about breastfeeding!  Your support can be central to helping new mums decide to breastfeed and to stick with it.

The campaign features four local mums, Kim and Nikki from Scarborough and Rachel and Kat from York, who have decided to breastfeed their babies. After a make over they were pictured breastfeeding their babies, with their photos featuring on campaign posters and postcards.  Please click here to see the fabulous photos, find local support and more information on the Be a Star campaign. These pages are interactive, if you have any questions or want to show your support you can leave a message for our stars.

Be a Star Evaluation Report – York and Scarborough

This report presents the findings and makes recommendations of the Social Marketing programme Be a Star evaluation at six months and provides an overview of current breastfeeding work.

Infant Feeding Strategy

An Infant Feeding Strategy for North Yorkshire and York is currently being written and will shortly be available for consultation.  The strategy aims to promote and support optimal nutrition of all infants up to two years of age.

We will achieve this by:

1. Working towards the achievement of the principles of the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI), through the development of service policies and procedures that actively support breastfeeding.

2. Providing breastfeeding training for all staff that have contact with pregnant women or breastfeeding mothers, at an appropriate level to their job role.

3. Strengthening breastfeeding peer support networks.

4. Co-ordinating the support and information provided across the range of organisations that serve pregnant women/new mothers and their families.

5. Supporting all women who choose to breastfeed by ensuring community facilities and the staff who work within them are responsive to their needs.

6. Encouraging public acceptability of breastfeeding as the social and cultural norm and raising awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding within the general public.

7. Promoting optimal nutrition for all babies, irrespective of infant feeding method.

This work will link with other local strategies, such as the Healthy Weight – Healthy Lives Strategy, the Parenting Strategy and the Children and Young People’s Plans.

This strategy is a live document and will be reviewed over the coming three years to ensure it is delivering the required outcomes.

Policy Development

NHS North Yorkshire and York, together with relevant local stakeholders, will be working towards a shared vision and policy to promote and support optimal nutrition for babies aged from 0 to 2 years.

A policy template will be produced for organisations to adopt, which will incorporate the UNICEF Seven Point Plan for sustaining Breastfeeding in the community and Promotion of breastfeeding initiation and duration: evidence into practice briefing.

The template will be available shortly. 

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