Experiences of breastfeeding peer support: views from current, past and trainee breastfeeding peer support volunteers in Wales, UK

BackgroundBreastfeeding peer support involves mothers with personal experience of breastfeeding providing support, information, and encouragement to other breastfeeding mothers. The Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative standards require that additional support for new mothers, such as peer support, is provided and that services work together to ensure that mothers can get additional help as needed. As work begins on a national framework for feeding support, we wanted to explore the current activity of breastfeeding supporters in Wales, UK. We aimed to explore the experiences of current, past and trainee breastfeeding peer support volunteers to understand what they need from a refreshed All Wales Breastfeeding Action Plan and how they could benefit. MethodsCurrent, past and trainee breastfeeding peer support volunteers were invited by Public Health Wales to complete an online survey about their experiences of providing breastfeeding peer support including both open and closed questions. Codebook thematic analysis was used to generate key themes arising from qualitative data. Results81 volunteers completed the online survey between 21/12/23 and 22/1/24. Their experiences were described as rewarding (50% (44/81)) and empowering (12%, 10/81), but also frustrating (19%, 15/81) and challenging (8%, 7/81). Peer supporters supported basic positioning and latching, challenges with milk supply, frequency of feeds, weaning, and poor weight gain. Three key themes were developed from the open-ended question why did you decide to undertake peer support training? (1) Paying it forward (2) Limited peer support in local areas and (3) The need for more support. Funding was noted as a barrier to continuing to provide breastfeeding peer support. ConclusionsBreastfeeding peer support was associated with benefits for the peer supporters themselves and recognised as beneficial for the mothers they helped. Investment in training future breastfeeding peer supporters is essential to ensure the continued success of these important initiatives.