Leicester Mammas is a long running, community based breastfeeding and infant feeding support programme operating across Leicester. Established in 2008, the service has evolved into a comprehensive model of wraparound support for families experiencing vulnerability, food insecurity, or barriers to accessing statutory services
Summary
Leicester Mammas is a long‑running, community‑based breastfeeding and infant‑feeding support programme operating across Leicester. Established in 2008, the service has evolved into a comprehensive model of wraparound support for families experiencing vulnerability, food insecurity, or barriers to accessing statutory services.
Mammas has always been much more than just breastfeeding. We know how isolating life as new parents can be and especially if you are new to the city or country and have no family or friends nearby. Wrap-around support helps families to feel cared for, valued, rooted in, and a part of the community in which they live
We’re commissioned by the local NHS Trust to deliver feeding support across the city of Leicester with a focus on those who are more vulnerable. This is an area that we've been working on since food insecurity issues arose, from around 2012 onwards. We work with local hospitals and family hubs, too. We link with Public Health and have some Household Support Grant funding and also ICB (Integrated Care Board) funding.
In 2021, Mammas developed our Baby Project, which supports families facing adversity, specifically around feeding support. It offers wraparound support for pregnant and new parents who are facing adversity. The programme is in line with the World Health Organisation’s Code of Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes and the UNICEF Baby Friendly Guidance for Local Authorities for families with infants facing food insecurity. Families can get one-to-one to support with feeding at our Baby Project sessions on Friday afternoons. This is for whatever feeding they might be doing - whether they are breastfeeding, formula feeding, or mixed feeding- the aim is to ensure all babies are safely and adequately nourished.
In 2015, I co-wrote a food bank toolkit with Dr Helen Crawley, ‘Information for Food Banks about supporting families with babies and infants’. The guidance contained in this toolkit ensures that food banks do not undermine breastfeeding and inadvertently harm the health of babies and young children. The main reason we set the Baby Project up was so that parents with babies or young children don't feel that they have to go to food banks because it is such a major challenge to have to go and queue for essentials when you've got a baby - and whether the items on offer are in stock from week to week, or are appropriate for your family’s needs, is another matter.
The cost of formula milk is another area we’ve worked on with national organisations. We’ve worked with the Baby Feeding Law Group around the current competition and marketing authority recommendations to government. This is about tackling some of the issues that are caused by company policies, and the lack of strong regulations around the exorbitant cost of infant formula. The Baby Project issues vouchers to parents who are formula feeding, who can't afford to buy formula milk. Vouchers go straight to their phone, that they can use for their shopping. If they're not formula feeding, we offer them vouchers to buy food.
We also link into Baby Basics Leicester and we support families with other areas such as applying for Healthy Start and even linking in with the Home Office or with the Council - whatever's going on in their lives. Many of these parents in Leicester are those with No Recourse to Public Funds. We continue that one-to-one support, linking them with other activities that we run with Family Hubs, so that they feel that there's someone there for them.
Leicester Mammas is training up mothers who’ve engaged with us - we're building skills. They become peer support volunteers and then when they’re ready, sessional workers. But I feel sad that it's often me who attends meetings and conferences rather than my colleagues. Sometimes colleagues feel that they don't have that strategic overview, or that they don't have the capacity because of the way that the funding works. I've been to a few meetings recently and I can see looking around the room that the workforce represented is homogenous, often older, white women. We should have representation from across our communities represented in our workforce. It's really challenging for us as organisations to do that, but I think it's an important aim. So, I don't have an easy answer, but I think these issues are important for us all to address.
Key learning
Key learning points include:
- Funding constraints can limit staff ability to develop strategic and leadership roles.
- Representation across all levels of the system, especially decision‑making forums, is essential for equity.
- Community‑led organisations need ongoing investment to support staff progression and diversify the wider workforce.
Leicester Mammas demonstrates how a small, community‑rooted organisation can deliver high‑impact, equity‑focused support for families with infants. By combining specialist infant‑feeding expertise with practical assistance, advocacy and workforce development, the service provides a model for practitioners working in areas where poverty, immigration issues and food insecurity intersect with early child and perinatal health.
Leicester Mammas – Sally Etheridge (Director)
Resources
Crawley, H and Etheridge, S (2017) Information for Food Banks: supporting pregnant women and families with infants. Baby Feeding Law Group UK. Available: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59f75004f09ca48694070f3b/t/5b2e0fb8758d46cbc9301173/1529745341327/Food_Banks_toolkit_Dec_2017.pdf
‘The Code’ is an internationally agreed voluntary code of practice, designed to protect breastfeeding by preventing unscrupulous and harmful marketing and claims about breastmilk substitutes, including infant formulas, ‘follow-on’ formulas and any other food or drink, together with feeding bottles and teats, intended for babies and young children. More details are available from the Baby Feeding Law Group UK
Guide for Local Authorities and Health Boards – Supporting families with infants under 12 months experiencing food insecurity
https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/new-guidance-for-local-authorities-and-health-boards/
LGA case studies on Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion
https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/equalities-hub/case-studies-equalities-diversity-and-inclusion
National Council for Voluntary Organisations guidance on equity, diversity and inclusion
https://www.ncvo.org.uk/help-and-guidance/running-a-charity/equity-diversity-inclusion/