HEADING out into the big wide world with your newborn for the first time is a very daunting experience.

Be it your first born or another addition to your family, each journey can be unique and often daunting – especially when it comes to something like breast feeding.

And while there is plenty of help on-hand with the subject before and just after the baby’s birth, once back home some mums miss that support.

So a new group is hoping to make a difference by providing a listening ear, cup of tea and advice from women who have been though the same experiences - right into the heart of of the community.

The breast feeding support sessions have been launched at Fidgets Play Centre in Egerton.

Taking place every Thursday morning, they are run by 39-year-old mum-of-five Teresa Neary-Taggart, who has worked as a volunteer peer supporter, doula and as part of the NHS infant support team

She said: “Sometimes having a baby can be quite isolating so having somewhere to go where you can meet other families with babies, get advice or just where someone can hold your baby while you go to the loo or have a drink is really important.

“There is an overwhelming sense of responsibility and after the first few weeks things start to return to normal, people go back to work, and a mum can be left alone. We don’t live in traditional communities any more, where help can be found easily.

“There is a gap of services being provided locally. With limited time for home visitors, NHS cuts and children centres closing, there is a lack of support in the community.

“This group is different, it is women who have been through the experience offering advice and helping to normalise things. Perhaps it’s just for someone to ask how you are feeling.

“Mums are welcome to come along with their babies, and pregnant mums are also welcome, to chat about infant feeding, any issues they might have and I can also signpost them other services like professionals in the NHS.”

A recent study by the British Red Cross and Co-op revealed that more than nine million people across the UK feel lonely. Becoming a new mum, or becoming a mum at a young age, are identified as two of the main causes of loneliness.

It found young new mums struggled to connect with older mums, worrying that they had nothing in common or that they would be judged for their circumstances.

Young mums reported feeling judged by other mums, or other members of their community, and people with health issues had experiences of being, or feeling that they were, negatively stereotyped as less able, or even ‘lazy’.

A lack of support or feeling judged has been reported as contributing to the reason why nearly half of new mums in Bolton do not breastfeed or stop after just two weeks, while more than 61 percent of the town’s infants turn to bottle feeding after eight weeks.

The lack of peer support and advice on breastfeeding are two challenges Teresa is keen to tackle.

She adds: “Every child is different, every pregnancy is different. They are all so different.

“There is a lot of competitive parenting out there, people saying ‘oh my baby slept has slept for 12 hours every night since it came out the womb’ – we can tell you that’s not going to be the case.

“There are always worries about the rate a baby is growing or if you produce enough milk, we are there to help with that and say it’s okay. We want to normalise breast feeding as well. I hear stories where women have been approached in public with negative reactions but you don’t hear about the 10,000 other where they have gone out and been fine. We live in a culture where breasts are seen as something for pleasure and not the actual practical purpose.

“Even if you don’t breast feed you are welcome along to the group. There will be sofas, a brew and an ear to listen.”

It is hoped as the group grows more mums well join to provide peer support. The group is being run from 10am to 12pm and is feed to attend, with visitors asked to make a money donation to national charity, the Mothers Milk Bank which funds the collection of pasteurised donor human milk to support vulnerable infants, such a premature babies. To find out more about the group contact Fidgets, based at Dunscar Business Park in Blackburn Road, on 01204 309998.

n To find out more about the Royal Bolton Hospital Maternity & Health Visiting Services contact the team on 01204 3905423.