Local mum Becky Smith cut a cake to officially open the new Spartans Breastfeeding Café earlier today. Becky and her two-year old son James were joined by Spartans’ development manager Dougie Samuel and a happy team of NHS Lothian professionals to mark the occasion.
The Spartans breast-feeding café is a friendly, informal setting where mums who are breastfeeding – or pregnant women – can drop in for a chat about breastfeeding with local health visitors and midwives. And as well as being a great place for advice, support, encouragement and information, it’s also a great place to meet other mums who are breastfeeding – and tea and coffee is free!
Any breastfeeding, even for a short time, is beneficial for you and your baby. Having good information about breastfeeding, plus support and advice, will help you – and your baby – get off to a good start and will help you to keep going.
Welcoming the new café, NHS Lothian’s Katy Ruggeri, clinical manager for Midwifery Services, said: “It seems such a long time ago that we first talked about the need for a local breastfeeding support group, how we could set one up and how to move things on. I’m delighted that, with the tremendous support of Spartans, we have been able to secure this venue. It’s really great to see the community working hand in hand with NHS Lothian and it’s a credit to everyone who has been involved. I hope the project grows and grows and I’m really looking forward to coming back to see how the project is developing.”
Spartans’ Dougie Samuel said: “Since we’ve been established here we’ve always tried to ensure that Spartans would be at the heart of the community so we are delighted to welcome the breastfeeding café to Spartans. This initiative follows on from the Spartans Smilers project we undertook with Cathy (Wood, North West Local Health Partnership public health practitioner) and her NHS Lothian colleagues and we hope it will be just as successful.”
Mum Becky Smith added: “I think this is a great idea and the area definitely needs something like this. It’s good to have this advice available locally without having to go to a clinic or surgery and it will be a good place to meet other local mums as well.”
Spartans Breastfeeding Café takes place every Monday from 12.15 to 1.45pm at Spartans Community Football Academy off Pilton Drive. For further information, contact your local midwife or health visitor or just drop in to Spartans Breastfeeding Café.
