Breastfeeding Statement

Our commissioned Public Health Nurses are committed to their full accreditation of the Baby Friendly Initiative standards as a Health provider. As a local authority who commission the Public Health Nursing service, we are committed to the continuation of this.

The Devon Health Visiting Service aims to individually support parents however they feed their baby at every contact through discussion and information sharing. We are committed to providing all parents with up-to-date, unbiased, evidence-based information. Our aim is to enable all parents to make fully informed decisions of how to feed their baby including trans and non-binary people who chestfeed.

Devon County Council recognises that alongside the Public Health Nursing provision, Devon County Council as a wider organisation is committed to protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding or chestfeeding through advocacy to the whole of its population, whether they be a member of the public or a member of our staff.

To achieve this, we support the implementation of the Baby Friendly Initiative Healthcare Standards (BFI) and adapt these to our local authority services where appropriate.

Supporting the BFI Standards

Our commitment

Stage One: Building a firm foundation

1. We will have a written signed breastfeeding or chestfeeding statement for the wider organisation of Devon County Council that is routinely communicated to all staff. We will share this with all new starters via our electronic induction system and, where appropriate, will have a routine reminder of this policy through our annual training updates.
2. We will continue to show commitment to maintaining an evidence-based level of understanding in relation to infant feeding. This will inform our commissioning and our wider public health agendas for us to protect, promote and support breastfeeding or chestfeeding.
3. We will review our Infant Feeding Strategy every two years to ensure that we are still meeting population need.
4. We will continue to ensure an efficient data collection system exists, that enables us as a local authority to monitor breastfeeding or chestfeeding within our communities with a view to meeting the needs of families. We will continue to evaluate this system to address weaknesses in the data collection system.
5. We will work collaboratively with our partners to fulfil our system Infant Feeding Strategy aims and, whilst doing this, we will hold central the well-being of the baby and their family.

Stage Two: An educated workforce

1. We will maintain a level of education that enables staff within, not only our Public Health department, but also our leadership team across the Local authority, to recognise the health and wellbeing benefits of breastfeeding or chestfeeding.
2. We will raise the profile of breastfeeding or chestfeeding across all our departments through social media postings, and Public Health England and local campaigns.

Stage Three: Parents’ infant feeding experience

Within our remit as a local authority we will:

1. Support the appropriate wider strategic health and wellbeing agendas that enable women or birthing people and men to recognise the importance of breastfeeding or chestfeeding and early relationships for the health and well-being of their baby.
2. Advocate that the appropriate wider strategic agendas, where possible, support infrastructure which promotes, protects and supports breastfeeding or chestfeeding for every mother or birthing person and every baby.
3. Recognise that breastfeeding or chestfeeding has multifaceted complex challenges within our population, however we will work with national and local campaigns to support responsive feeding for all babies. Through our Infant Feeding Strategy, we will work towards building the infrastructure within our communities, workplaces, public and private organisations to protect, support and promote breastfeeding or chestfeeding and healthy eating.

Supporting the International Code of Marketing of Breast milk Substitutes

Our Commitment

We will also work within the International Code of Marketing of Breast milk Substitutes and promote healthy infant feeding decision making for all staff and members of the public.

We will support the relevant provisions of the marketing code within our premises:

1. We will not advertise any breast milk substitutes.
2. We will not give free samples of any product that promotes bottle feeding.
3. We will encourage our partners working within healthcare facilities to adhere to the code of marketing of breast milk substitutes.
4. We will not support any contact of parents from formula company representatives.
5. We will not accept any gifts or personal samples from any company linked with formula companies.
6. We will not in any of our contact with parents use words or pictures idealising artificial feeding.
7. We will ensure that our information provided to staff and our population is scientific and factual.
8. When discussing formula infant feeding, we will recognise the evidence base regarding the risks of not breastfeeding.
9. Our guidance will support families with robust infant feeding information therefore reducing unsuitable products entering a child’s diet.

Supporting the promotion and protection of breastfeeding or chestfeeding within Devon County Council

Our commitment

1. We will participate in efforts to protect, promote and support breastfeeding or chestfeeding as the cultural norm as per our Infant Feeding strategy.
2. We will encourage breastfeeding as the preferred method of infant feeding.
3. All frontline staff working in DCC’s premises which are accessible to the public should support breastfeeding or chestfeeding by adopting the following:

• Breastfeeding mothers or chestfeeding parents will be given the freedom within public areas to choose where to breastfeed or chestfeed; the presence of a breastfeeding or chestfeeding room does not mean that she or they must choose to use the room.
• Breastfeeding mothers or chestfeeding parents will be welcomed when on the premises and will not be asked to cover up or move to another area when breastfeeding or chestfeeding.
• If a mother or person wishes to have more privacy to breastfeed or chestfeed, she or they will be offered an appropriate location as far as practicable. Toilets or restrooms are not appropriate places for feeding babies and will not be offered.
• We will support breastfeeding mothers or chestfeeding parents if they encountered difficulties and show kindness and respect.
• We will create a positive and supportive environment within our local authority buildings (for example, by displaying breastfeeding or chestfeeding positive posters in public areas and, as far as practicable, providing a private space for breastfeeding clients).

Supporting Devon County Council as a breastfeeding or chestfeeding friendly workplace

Our Commitment

1. We will recognise the need to support employees to continue breastfeeding or chestfeeding after returning to work.
2. Employees who plan or need to express breast milk during working hours should approach their supervisors to work out an appropriate arrangement through supportive discussion whilst completing a risk assessment with their line manager.
3. Line managers should support breastfeeding or chestfeeding employees on return to work by providing an enabling environment for those who are breastfeeding or chestfeeding. Specific measures include the following:

• Allowing lactation breaks (one 30 minute break every four hours) for expression of breast milk for at least one year after childbirth, and to adopt a flexible approach thereafter.
• Provide somewhere for hand washing that does not involve a public toilet.
• Provide a private space with a comfortable chair and an electric outlet for operating the breast pump.
• Provide refrigerating facilities for safe storage of expressed breast milk. There is an expectation that the employee will ensure that this would be clearly marked and placed in a separate box within the fridge to prevent colleagues from opening it by accident.
• All other staff members are requested to support their colleagues to breastfeed or chestfeed by adopting a positive and accepting attitude.
• Consider if needed, flexible approaches to enable the continuation of breastfeeding or chestfeeding when a baby will not take milk from a bottle. This might involve the baby’s carer attending the offices, at the cost of the mother, for the 30 minute break every four hours, to allow the mother or person to breastfeed. This would need a separate risk assessment undertaking.

Find out more about the Positive About Breastfeeding scheme.

However you feed your baby for more information and support regarding responsive feeding please visit the Health for Under 5s website.