Recent news

May 11, 2008

Breastfeeding: Every day makes a difference to your baby 11th - 17th May 2008... Click here to read more

May 13, 2007

National Breastfeeding Awareness Week (NBAW) is an annual event to raise aware- ness of the importance of breastfeeding and encourage health professionals and other groups to run events in their areas... Click here to read more

May 12, 2007

First time mums' story I amafirst time mum who has always wanted to breastfeed as I am aware of the benefits of doing it... Click here to read more

May 12, 2007

The Handsworth team, committed to help! Breastfeeding is a relaxing and rewarding experience for mother and baby. I work closely with the midwives who will often ask me to help any mothers who need that extra support... Click here to read more

BABA Awards

Use our handy online tool to find places which have a positive attitude about breastfeeding and who have facilities to help you.

The Birmingham Annual Breastfeeding Awards (BABA) was first launched in 1990 by City Hospital maternity unit and the members of the Birmingham breastfeeding action group; with the intention of providing mothers with a friendly welcoming atmosphere to breastfeed. This was as a result of surveys which indicated that breastfeeding rates fell by 25% by the time babies were six weeks old. When questioned, women said that there was nowhere that they could sit and comfortably breastfeed. Women were often directed to unsuitable areas such as the toilets or even asked to leave as they were causing an offence to other customers.

A department store called Lewis’ was the first recipients of the most coveted award which was presented to them at an award held in City Hospital. This generated a lot of interest by local businesses and Birmingham City council who later came on board. The pushed to make Birmingham a breastfeeding city and made sure that there were policies in there buildings to support breastfeeding mothers and that plans for new buildings consisted of a breastfeeding room.

These awards were very successful at promoting an awareness of breastfeeding and encouraging businesses to be breastfeeding friendly, they ran for 12 years until 2002 and have been duplicated across other cities in England. It is now time to re: launch these awards in Birmingham extending the categories to promote breastfeeding within the work place, making it easier for mothers to return to work whilst breastfeeding.