'Breast is best' say Wirral mums

9:33am Saturday 26th April 2008

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MEET Sara Atherton, one of the super star mums heading a new campaign to promote breastfeeding in Wirral.

Sara, 25, from Wallasey, who is pictured with her 11-week-old daughter Ella, wants to share with other mums that something as natural as breastfeeding is a great way both to lose weight after giving birth and protect babies from a range of infections.

Sara, who also breastfed her two other children Jack, five, and Aaliyahm, two, is so convinced by the benefits of breastfeeding that she peer supports mums-to-be and new mums across Wirral.

She reckons to have supported nearly 400 women in the three years she's been a volunteer.

Said Sara: "Breastfeeding gives you a real sense of pride. Not only are you giving life, you are also sustaining it. The bonding, the closeness, the skin to skin contact and the health benefits are just amazing.

"I breastfed Jack until he was ten months old and I did struggle a bit at first, which is why peer support is so important in helping mums to get established. I fed Aaliyah until she was two years-old."

Sara will take to the catwalk in Birkenhead Pavilion in Birkenhead Park with other breastfeeding mums and their babies during national Breastfeeding Awareness Week from May 11 to 17.

The fashion show, coordinated by Wirral Primary Care Trust, Arrowe Park Hospital and partners in local children's centres, will form part of a breastfeeding awareness afternoon from 12-3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13.

Said Carey Marsden, Breastfeeding Lead with Wirral Primary Care Trust: "The event in Birkenhead Pavilion is an opportunity for the glamorous mums to take to the floor with their babies to demonstrate not only how gorgeous they look and feel, but also what super star mums they are for breastfeeding their babies.

"Even though breastfeeding has been shown to be better for the health of the mother and baby, breastfeeding rates in the UK are amongst the lowest in Europe, with nearly a third of women never starting to breastfeed.

"Many people these days have never had the chance to be around someone who is breastfeeding and therefore breastfeeding skills and knowledge are being lost from our culture. Meanwhile our knowledge about the benefits continues to increase."

Students from Wirral Metropolitan College will style the mums' hair and apply their makeup for the show.

Guests at the awareness event will also hear about the big-hearted donor mums who give away their own surplus breast milk to help sick and premature babies.

The generosity of these donors is the lifeline of a milk bank set up four years ago in Clatterbridge Hospital to supply donated breast milk to babies in the Arrowe Park Hospital neonatal unit, and also to sick and premature babies being cared for in other parts of the Northwest.

The seeds for the Wirral Mothers Milk Bank were sown through the selfless actions of a newly bereaved mum.

Despite her own loss she offered her breast milk to help someone else's baby rather than let this valuable resource go to waste.

In the last six months alone more than 50 sick and premature babies in the Arrowe Park neonatal unit have received donor milk and there many more who have benefited in other units around the country, since the Wirral milk bank also acts as a collecting centre for other hospitals, including the regional maternity unit at the Liverpool Women's Hospital.

Any mother who is breastfeeding a baby less than six months old and wishes to donate milk should contact the milk bank on 0151 334 4000, ext 5000 and speak to Gill or Annie. Or alternatively email milkbank@whnt.nhs.uk