I hosted the Doncaster Big Latch On this year, along with Lisa from Baby Dinosaurs.
Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week (1-7 August), the event was a great opportunity for mums to come along and meet other mums, plus access all of the support they could need as a parent in Doncaster.
Supported by the Public Health Team at Doncaster Council, the Family Hubs, breastfeeding champions and the Health Visiting Team from Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH), the event took place at Sandall Park on Friday August 2nd 2019.
Besides a countdown, so that mums could feed their babies at 10.30am and link with other mums worldwide feeding their little ones at the same time as part of the Global Big Latch On event, there were also baby yoga and baby massage taster sessions with Zen Baby and Baby Bumps Yoga, plus some phonics sessions with Frog Phonics and activities in the Family Hub tent, face painting with Magic Faces, Nadya’s Sandy Smile Sand Art and Rascals bouncy castles for older siblings! We were also joined by Puddle Ducks, Little Gold Bee, Usborne books, Doncaster Families Information Services, Water Babies and the NCT, who bought along some amazing cakes!
Breasfeeding has a number of benefits for both mum and baby. As someone who found it a bit tricky to say the least, I was keen to persevere and I loved being involved with this event to show new mums in particular that it isn’t always a smooth ride with breastfeeding. It can be hard work, but reach out and get some support. My little boy was tongue-tied for 10 weeks and i’d say that breastfeeding was not the experience I had imagined, even harder 2nd time around with a toddler to look after too!
We hope that the Big Latch On event also makes breastfeeding more normal. I remember scurrying to a corner of a cafe or venue when out and about, covering my mini mumbler up with muslin clothes and a very tricky to use feeding bib. It shouldn’t be like this. We were joined on the day by a huge pair of inflatable boobs, worn by some of the health visiting team, which hopefully showed other mums that it is okay to feed wherever you need to!
Here are some of our prize draw winners. Huge thanks to Club Doncaster, Yorkshire Wildlife Park, Bawtry Paintball, Stork Pram and Cot Centre, Puddle Ducks, Baby Bumps Yoga and Baby Sensory Doncaster for donating prizes.
Huge thanks also to Tesco’s in Woodfield Plantation for their donation of water for our mums!
We were also supported by Boston Park Farm and Puddle Ducks Doncaster in terms of sponsoring our Big Latch T-shirts, so a big thank you to them too!
Watch the Video of the event captured and produced by Kelly Shaw Photography.
Mums who would like breastfeeding advice have a number of support options in Doncaster.
