WOW: 'In the early days, it’s nice to have someone cheering on your breastfeeding journey'

Wed, 30 Jul, 2025 - 06:47

Ireland has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world, according to the World Health Organisation.

The reasons for this are many, but one common issue cited by Irish mums is a need for support, not just starting breastfeeding, but also continuing to breastfeed beyond the early postpartum days.

It was for this very reason that the charity Friends of Breastfeeding was formed.

Founded in 2009 by a group of mothers who met on an online forum, Friends of Breastfeeding works to connect women who want to breastfeed with a local support network. One way in which they do this is through their Breastfeeding Buddy System, which pairs up new or expectant mums hoping to breastfeed with an experienced mum in their community.

The charity receives requests for buddy support from Munster-area mums about once a week, Cork Buddy Pairing Co-ordinator Irene Donovan tells me, but they are aware that “many expectant and newly postpartum mums don’t know the Breastfeeding Buddy service exists yet.”

She adds: “We’re working hard to promote it more amongst maternity services in Munster, because without exception when mums do hear about the service, they wish they knew of it sooner!”

Margaret Donnellan breastfeeding her son, Ezra.

I was one such mum. When I began my own breastfeeding journey after the birth of my first child in 2022, I didn’t know about Friends of Breastfeeding or the wider idea of breastfeeding peer support.

The early days (and sleepless nights) of nursing a newborn baby are tough, and while everything on paper was going well for both me and my baby, breastfeeding felt like quite an isolating experience. I would have liked somebody to reassure me that the things I was experiencing were normal, and to champion me during challenging moments.

For Douglas mum, Lisa Cronin, this was one of the key benefits of the Friends of Breastfeeding Buddy System. Like me, Lisa hadn’t engaged the support of a lactation consultant, but she had educated herself about breastfeeding through HSE information and other official channels. However, the one-to-one nature of peer support appealed to her.

“The person has been there before and when you’re in the throes of those early days, it’s much easier to just send a message to someone rather than try and get out of the house to go to a breastfeeding support class when you are still recovering yourself,” said Lisa.

She discovered the Buddy System at a HSE-run breastfeeding class, and signed up for a buddy through the charity’s website when she was 39 weeks pregnant with her son, Tadhg.

“I really just wanted to do everything in my power to try and have a successful breastfeeding journey”, she says. “Signing up to Friends of Breastfeeding seemed like the logical thing to do”.

Friends of Breastfeeding has trained 28 buddies in the Cork and wider Munster region – and I’m one of them, having undertaken the charity’s training course in 2023.

Approximately 540 mums in the region have benefited from the Buddy System since 2016.

Midleton mum Emer Harrington heard about Friends of Breastfeeding in her early days of nursing daughter Mae in 2022, through a lactation consultant. Mae was one month old when Emer requested a buddy.

“As a new mum, you can start to panic and Google things and get a lot of conflicting information”, she reflects. This is where her buddy stepped in.

Lisa Cronin with baby Tadhg. Lisa signed up for the programme when she was 39 weeks pregnant.

“I got a response really quickly, and she gave me reassurance that whatever was happening was normal”.

Peer support is associated with higher rates of breastfeeding initiation and continuation. And as rates in Ireland slowly rise, the need for it is more important than ever.

“We are always on the lookout for would-be volunteers to become breastfeeding buddies”, says Irene Donovan. “To be a buddy, we look for fellow mums who have personal experience with breastfeeding who would like to support other mums in their early days”.

Training is comprehensive, and buddies are armed with up-to-date guidance and information for new mums. Signposting to other resources is a vital part of the system, with buddies regularly pointing their peers in the direction of local breastfeeding groups, healthcare professionals, and other volunteer-led organisations like Cuidiú and La Leche League.

Mums can choose to communicate with their buddies as frequently as they need, and in whatever way they like.

Lisa Cronin found this flexibility and friendliness very helpful when she and I were paired up as part of the Buddy System in 2024.

“I loved the simplicity of just being able to call, text or send a voice note... and how informal it was. The practical advice received was so supportive. In the early days of sleep deprivation and cluster feeding, it’s nice to have someone cheering on your breastfeeding journey”.

This sense of camaraderie is so important during the somewhat isolating days of new motherhood. With peer support, breastfeeding mums need never feel alone.

As Emer Harrington puts it: “We can put a huge amount of pressure on ourselves as mums – we’re trying to breastfeed and feel like it’s all on us, and if it doesn’t work for any reason we can feel like it’s a failure... The one thing to remember if you’re a new mum is that you’re doing the absolute best you can and giving your baby everything. So, give yourself a break and lean into the support”.