Friends of Breastfeeding
Friends of Breastfeeding was formed in 2009 by a group of mothers who met on online parenting forums. Many of these mothers found the internet to be the only place they could access true support and reliable information or advice about breastfeeding at the time. The need for two things was clear to everyone involved – better understanding of breastfeeding across the general public, and improved access to good breastfeeding support in Ireland for women who want to breastfeed their babies.
Member Q&A
What is your goal?
The focus of Friends of Breastfeeding is to foster a positive breastfeeding culture in Ireland and raise awareness about breastfeeding support options. Friends of Breastfeeding provide information about different breastfeeding support options, so that mothers can make an informed decision on whom to ask for breastfeeding support.
How have you been working towards it?
Friends of Breastfeeding provides peer to peer breastfeeding support in two main channels of the organisation. We have breastfeeding peer support groups across the country called Mum 2 Mum groups, and one to one support for pregnant or breastfeeding mothers through our Breastfeeding Buddy System. We also hold several annual events throughout the year including a breastfeeding challenge (a normalising breastfeeding event were we try to break records for numbers of mothers nursing in public together simultaneously); Summer picnics, the All About Baby Fair (Ireland’s largest WHO Code compliant baby fair) and the Friends of Breastfeeding Awards.
How has being a member of The Wheel helped?
The Wheel has been an invaluable resource for us. Our national committee member are regular attendees on The Wheel's training courses and webinars. We also received direct support from staff at The Wheel when it was necessary in 2020 to commence an internal investigation into a theft of charity funds. Thanks in no small part to the skills learned through our membership of The Wheel we were able to liaise with the relevant legal and regulatory authorities and our funders appropriately; and navigate the investigation in a transparent, thorough, and diligent manner.
How can people support you?
We welcome donations on our website at www.friendsofbreastfeeding.ie/donations/
Do you have any success stories to share?
After the Covid-19 restrictions were announced in March 2020 all in person breastfeeding support was cancelled or restricted in line with public health guidelines and HSE guidance. Our Breastfeeding Buddies switched to providing all support via phone calls, Zoom, and messaging services. Our Mum2Mum social peer support groups moved to online meets over the Spring and Summer. As the restrictions continued into the Autumn we moved our focus to supporting mothers ‘virtually’ via online talks and virtual coffee mornings; running an online 'brelfie' challenge; and boosting our social media output. 12,500 people engaged with our brelfie challenge on social media and the hashtag had a reach of 21,700 impressions. Our Virtual M2M Talks organically reached between 1,100 and 3,400 people on Facebook for each virtual coffee morning, with between 70-351 clicks each (e.g. video play, reading comments) and 29-87 engagements each.
Where can people find you on social media?
Website: www.friendsofbreastfeeding.ie
FacebooK: FoBfIreland
Instagram: friendsofbreastfeeding
Twitter: @friendsofbf
