Breastfeeding support: Offaly highlighted for its advances

A quiet revolution is underway in the heart of Ireland, as Offaly is being celebrated as a national leader in breastfeeding support, with significant increases in breastfeeding rates.

Offaly’s breastfeeding champions are in the running for seven awards at this year’s Friends of Breastfeeding Awards, including Breastfeeding Support Group of the Year, Lactation Consultant of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Initiative of the Year and Media Feature of the Year.

The winners will be announced at a Gala Lunch on March 29 in the Tullamore Court Hotel.

At the heart of this transformation are local breastfeeding support group Cuidiú Offaly and community lactation consultant, Patricia Marteinsson. Founded in summer 2022 by local mother, Jasmine Elkhershi, and Breastfeeding Counsellor Carolina von Ow, the Offaly branch of the national breastfeeding and parenting support charity has blossomed into a thriving community of mothers and children with over 100 members. The group is led by an eleven-strong committee of women, all of whom are mothers to young children.

Despite historically low breastfeeding rates in the region, in 2022 Offaly celebrated the highest breastfeeding continuation rates in Ireland, with 100% of mothers who had initiated breastfeeding continuing to breastfeed at three months postpartum.

In 2022, Offaly and Laois’ exclusive breastfeeding rate at three months was among the highest in the country at 45.5% (the national average was 31.4%). By 2024, this had increased to 49%, with over half of mothers exclusively or partially breastfeeding.

Cuidiú’s motto is ‘find your village’ and Cuidiú Offaly’s ‘village’ is growing all the time. Chairperson Jasmine Elkhershi explains that community effort is the key to the county’s success: "Offaly isn’t an area where breastfeeding is the norm but we do feel the whole town of Tullamore has rowed in behind us.

"Both Tullamore Library and St Mary’s Youth and Community Centre provide us with free venues for our meetings and Esker Arts Centre and Playtown have gone above and beyond to facilitate our social events. It’s about making breastfeeding more visible but also about making sure community life and activities are welcoming to breastfeeding mothers," says Jasmine.

"We want breastfeeding to be an easy and mainstream choice for mothers to make – so if you need a picture book to help wean your toddler, that’s not a niche thing, it’s on your doorstep in Tullamore Library and it’s free. The same goes for pumps, nipple shields, and so on. Making space in the community for breastfeeding mothers and babies means that you can borrow those things from Cuidiú Offaly’s breastfeeding library or source them locally."

Cuidiú Offaly is also passionate about ‘bridging the gap’ so that mothers don’t experience a dramatic drop in support when they return to work or wean from breastfeeding. It runs Saturday meetings once a month and dedicated toddler meet-ups, which appeal to both those who are long term breastfeeding and those who may have weaned.

Studies identify family support as critical to breastfeeding success but historically low levels of breastfeeding mean that many new mothers in Offaly are the first in their family for several generations to breastfeed.

"Several generations ago you might have had your mother, your granny, your auntie sitting at the end of the bed helping you with every latch in the early days, but that’s something we have lost as a society," says Chairperson Jasmine Elkhershi.

"This is where Cuidiú comes in," says Cuidiú Offaly Breastfeeding Counsellor and cofounder, Carolina von Ow. "Mothers are making that change for themselves and creating their own ‘village’. It’s so inspiring to see mothers who are the first in their family to breastfeed for years go on to breastfeed successfully. Several of our committee and trainee breastfeeding counsellors here in Offaly were not breastfed themselves but have actually changed the norm in their own families and communities."

One of the group’s Friends of Breastfeeding Awards nominations this year was for ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting… a New Grandchild!’ in the Tullamore Lions Annual. The article, aimed at grandparents, explains normal breastfeeding behaviour and what to expect from a grandparent’s point of view.

"As new mothers in a society where breastfeeding is not the norm, we’re often thrown in at the deep end and we learn so much in a short space of time. Sometimes we forget that we need to take our families with us on that journey so they understand how to support us," says breastfeeding counsellor, Breda Cooney.

"For every woman who has experienced lack of family support, we’re also seeing amazing examples of grandparents and partners supporting mothers to breastfeed, even when it’s not something they may have been comfortable with initially. The increasing visibility of breastfeeding is a really powerful force for change in families and in the community."

The group hopes to build on this initial outreach in the coming year. "One thing we have to understand is that many grandmothers in particular may have had bad experiences with breastfeeding," says Breda.

"Many women have trauma around breastfeeding and this is something we need to be very sensitive to as a society. If change is to happen, grandmothers’ support will be key."