I AM deeply saddened by the decision of Oxfordshire County Council to withdraw funding for baby cafés to continue their incredible service in children’s centres.

The contract is not being renewed at the end of March 2016, leaving mothers requiring breastfeeding support in a very dire situation.

I am a mother of a three-year-old boy, Daniel, and have a second on the way.

I have calculated I will only have use of the service for four to five weeks, assuming my baby arrives on time (mid February) and I suffer no complications requiring me to remain in hospital after birth.

The baby café was a crucial support network on my breastfeeding journey with Daniel, empowering me to make decisions on the techniques as well as a forum for asking questions. I in fact used the service past the first year.

It was a service I knew was available every Monday at my local centre – Marston Northway Children’s Centre – and also in and around Oxford during the rest of the week.

More importantly it was walking distance and in a familiar environment. I was meeting like-minded people who were experiencing if not the same/similar issues but also mothers that had been through the same and had got through the difficulty.

It saddens me that despite the reassurances of the county council that there would be no immediate changes to the children’s centre and its services until the Autumn, this has not happened.

Disappointingly the county council fails to comprehend how important it is for parents to have support from day one in one central place.

It may argue that baby cafés can no longer be funded as it is an issue of “health” which it no longer feels it should fund. This does not however make any real sense to a mother who has relied upon the baby café service to date or will need it post March.

How to explain to the council that the children’s centres do not just provide one or two services in isolation that assist parents and children 0-5, but a bundle of services as the child grows, starting from baby cafés continuing to stay and plays and much more.

I for one believe health visitors do a wonderful job in the first few weeks after birth. But are we now to assume that the responsibility of breastfeeding support will be picked up by cl early overstretched health visitors?

CHARLANE MASIH
Raymund Road, Old Marston