Basildon, Billericay & Wickford Breastfeeding Support Groups

[PrincessPlaty]

Monday 1-3pm Great Oaks Clinic Basildon 01268522401
Monday 12.30-2pm Wickford Triangle Childrens Centre, Irvon Hill Road Wickford 01268763712
Tuesday 12.30-2pm Cherrydown Childrens Centre 4 Cherrydown Basildon 01268532852
Thursday 12.30-2pm The Christian Link Church Queens Park Billericay 01277658071
Daily 9-5pm Northlands Park Childrens Centre Davants Basildon 01268720090

Little Angels 24 Hour Helpline 01268526099

[shewhomustbeobyed]

Erm, can I just point out that none of the above support groups are run by or supported by Little Angels ?

Great Oaks - that's NCT
Wickford - Baby Cafe
Cherrydown - NCT again
Billericay - Baby Cafe again
Northlands Park - run by the children's centre

It is EXTREMELY disrespectful to the VOLUNTEER support groups for Little Angels to claim these as theirs. And it also means parents are not getting the right information to make an informed choice about which support groups they may want to access.

[weezypops]

shewhomustbeobyed - I don't think Little Angels claimed to be running these. I think it was just a simple mistake on the part of PrincessPlaty who was just trying to help out other Mums. I don't think she has anything to do with Little Angels herself.

[shewhomustbeobyed]

Then why does it come under 'Little Angels Breastfeeding Support Groups' rather than 'Local Breastfeeding Support Groups' ?

[Schmushe]

Maybe it was an honest mistake?

Do you work for Little angels or a similar support group? Maybe you could provide us with some local classes which are Little Angels or alternative breasfeeding Support groups?

[weezypops]

Then why does it come under 'Little Angels Breastfeeding Support Groups' rather than 'Local Breastfeeding Support Groups' ?

I think she probably thought they were Little Angels groups and wanted to share, but got it wrong. I don't think it was anything more than that!

[shewhomustbeobyed]

Can the listing header be changed then to 'Basildon, Billericay & Wickford Breastfeeding Support Groups' ?

If you want the support groups for that area, I've just listed them with their correct attribution !

Little Angels are being paid to support women with breastfeeding - no problem with that at all, but the support groups are run by volunteers and I personally think it's important that those groups are credited. And yes, I am a volunteer with one of them !!

[weezypops]

Done! If you have any more info, please let me know and I'll get it on here, or post it yourself.

[PrincessPlaty]

For a start i really dont think it was right that i have today had 2 new posters pm me pointing this out.

Hi PrincessPlaty,

Please excuse my method of contact, but I noticed your post on Little Angels Breastfeeding support and wondered how you came about the information. As far as I'm aware these groups are all run by VOLUNTEERS of either the NCT or Babycafe or the childrens centre. Please don't think I'm trying to be picky, but these volunteers do not get much recognition for what they do, which is a real shame!

Regards

3 wolfcubs

You've posted that Little Angels provide various support groups for breastfeeding mums in Basildon, Billericay & Wickford.

None of these groups are run or supported by Little Angels - they are ALL volunteer run groups supported by the NCT or run under the Baby Cafe franchise.

This posting will be brought to the attention of the volunteer groups, and the breastfeeding steering groups and should be taken down, or proper credit given to the right organisations

Second of all i dont appreciate the tone of the way you wrote the message towards me shewhomustbeobeyed.

I posted the information that was given to me by Little Angels as there was no other info for the area on here! I thought if i was looking on here for info then others would be too so i put up what i was aware of.

The info was given to me by Little Angels on a sheet of paper that said Little Angels Breastfeeding Support, with no other information to say these were being run by any other organisations. If you have a problem with this i suggest you pick your fight with Little Angels and not me.

[Jenn]

PrincessPlaty - Please don't be offended. The information you gave in the first place was very useful and although had a little mistake, it was still informative and gave times and places and even phone numbers so it was still a very useful post!

I don't recognise the names of either the two posters who contacted you. I too would be very upset if I received them, possibly to the point where I might decide to stop coming on the site, but I want you to know that many mums will have been very grateful to read your original post and will have used it to gain the support they need. Please try not to take it to heart and please continue coming on the site. I don't want you to be upset!

[weezypops]

PrincessPlaty - thank you for sharing the information. Regardless of who runs it, you posting details of these groups will be useful to other breastfeeding Mums, which is surely the most important thing. I'm sorry you felt picked on by the messages you got and hope that their intention was not to make you feel bad but that they just felt their hard work was not being recognised. As you are just a member of the public sharing what you believed to be valuable information, it wasn't fair to make you feel this way but it sounds like there were crossed wires somewhere.

shewhomustbeobeyed and 3wolfcubs - I appreciate you trying to get the right information out there and would always like to make sure that everything we have on here is accurate, but when people are posting their own experiences, it sometimes happens that they don't have the full details, or that they are slightly wrong. In future, if you spot something that is inaccurate, please contact me about it - I don't think it was entirely fair that PrincessPlaty was made to feel bad about sharing what she thought was the correct information, whatever you believed her intentions to be. I know that Princess Platy had previously posted about problems she was having with breastfeeding and imagine this is why she wanted to share this information with others too - which is surely a good thing, isn't it?

I always try to contact the relevant people if I can for them to come and check the information, and you are more than welcome (in fact I would love it if you could) to post all the information about these groups and any others you are involved with so that it can get out to our parents and provide them with the support they are looking for. Anything you post, or send me will be added to the calendar and map too so that it will get a lot of exposure, and hopefully we can get some clarification from Little Angels too about which groups they run.

Thanks, hope you're all still awake.

Louise

[3wolfcubs]

Hi PrincessPlaty,

I sincerely apologise if you felt that my reply to you was inappropriate, but I am part of the volunteer group that runs these groups and was trying to find out from you where you came across this information, in no way did I want to upset you or make you feel uncomfortable. I too am very grateful for you posting the information, as I feel that support no matter where it comes from is invaluable.

The team of volunteers that give up their time for the NCT and baby cafe do so because they want to support people like yourself. this is all possible because they work very hard fund raising to enable them to offer the facility, all I was trying to do was make sure that they received recognition for their hard work.

I have indeed contacted Little Angels regarding this and other matters.

Once again please accept my apologies for any offence caused.

Kind regards

[weezypops]

Thanks for your post 3wolfcubs. Would love to have a bit more info about this Baby Cafe if you could post/send it!

[LittleAngelJane]

Dear Princess Platy

Thank you so much for making the wider audience aware of the breastfeeding groups available. I work for Little Angels, hence my username.

When we first were invited to work, by Southwest Essex PCT, in the Basildon, Billericay and Wickford area we were asked to find out all the local breastfeeding groups in our area and signpost our referral mums to the groups. In our innocence, as this was the first time most of us had done any sort of work in this field, we put together a list/table, which is what you have been given, and printed it on our headed note paper thinking it looked professional.

Since then, in the last 2 months, the NCT pointed out quite rightly, that it gave the impression that the groups were run by us. This was never the intention, and our peer supporters had only ever given the list out in good faith, therefore we have now changed the list and the information given out now has been amended so that every organisation's logo is printed by the side of the name of the group.

The NCT and Baby Cafe are fantastic organisations run by great volunteers who give their valuable time again and again to breastfeeding support, and as a volunteer worker myself (separate to Little Angels) I can fully understand their feelings. However it is a shame that you got caught up in the politics of the organisations when all you were trying to do was help

Just so you know, Little Angels do now have 2 of their own breastfeeding support groups. One on a Monday at Tumbletown in Basildon at 1 - 3 pm, and one at Partyman World Basildon on a Tuesday between 10am-12pm. If anyone would like further information on either of those please do not hesitate to contact me on 01268 526099 at the Little Angel's Office.

Thanks. Jane

[shewhomustbeobyed]

Many apologies to PrincessPlaty - I'm really glad you wanted to post useful information for other parents, I was simply being rather over-cynical the other evening and rather suspicious that a new mum would have the time or inclination to type all that in !! I had assumed you were from Little Angels

As a volunteer, it has been rather galling that Little Angels have been handing out information about the support groups under their own name - volunteer breastfeeding peer supporters have sorted out our own childcare, don't get paid travel expenses etc whilst we do our training, the PCT has promised things like mobile phones so mums can call us then they've never materialised - our groups are well attended and we all work together and support each other - doesn't matter if it's NCT or Baby Cafe or a children's centre group - we even had volunteers who used to go into the hospital to support mums at their bedsides. Then the PCT decide to pour loads of public money into an outside company - makes us feel really valued !

If Jane is right and Little Angels is now handing out the right information that's better !

For whoever wanted more information on Baby Cafe - the Wickford breastfeeding support group on Tuesdays and the Billericay one on Thursdays operate under the Baby Cafe umbrella - if you google Baby Cafe you can read more about them, but basically they are breastfeeding support groups where you will find trained peer supporters if anyone needs help, information or support or even just the chance to be with other breastfeeding mums - same as the NCT or CC groups.