My dream job as an infant feeding support nurse

During World Breastfeeding Week (1–7 August), we heard from Alyson Baillie, a community nurse from Scotland.

Alyson has always been a community nurse, but her experience of feeding her first son led her to seek out ways to support other mothers with infant feeding. When Scottish government funding created a new infant feeding support nurse role, it was a perfect match.

I have always been a community nurse – I love the relationship you build with families in their own homes.

My first nursing job was as a district staff nurse in Glasgow. I loved seeing patients in their own home and supporting them and their families to make decisions about their health. I worked with the most supportive group of nurses, and it was a wonderful first job.

After my first son was born, I worked as a trainee practice nurse in South Ayrshire. This is when I first became involved in women and children's health. I loved to deliver the nasal flu vaccine to little tots and was passionate about health promotion and cervical screening. I will always remember the woman that breastfed through her smear!

I always knew I wanted to breastfeed but when I had my first son in 2015 I had a difficult time getting breastfeeding started. He was born five weeks early, was very sleepy and had a tongue tie. All this led to me exclusively expressing breastmilk and him being fed by bottle. I was determined he would receive my milk but heartbroken that my breastfeeding journey wasn't as I had expected.

My health visitor recommended getting some local peer support. When my son was three weeks old I attended a Breastfeeding Network group and found the support invaluable and met lifelong friends. The support enabled me to stop expressing and I breastfed my son for three years – one of my most cherished achievements.

Inspired by my personal experience of breastfeeding, I decided to volunteer as a peer helper for the Breastfeeding Network. Peer helpers are people with lived experience of breastfeeding, who have completed training in how to support others. I qualified in 2016 and loved supporting other women to meet their breastfeeding goals.

Fast forward to 2019 and Scottish government funding created a new infant feeding support nurse secondment in my locality. It was a job that combined my professional nursing skills and my passion for supporting women with feeding their babies. It truly is my dream job. My day is spent seeing families at home or at support groups, assessing feeding, implementing feeding plans and training staff to support mothers and families.

The post has now been made permanent in North Ayrshire. Ayrshire and Arran have really invested in their infant feeding support and recognise the long-term impact it has on the health of the whole community.

My passion for breastfeeding and Breastfeeding Network’s overall ethos meant I continued my training with them, and I'm now a supervisor, able to support other volunteers. In my professional role, I continue signpost families to their groups both online and in person and the National Breastfeeding Helpline which is available 24 hours, seven days a week.

Alongside the support provided by my midwifery and health visiting colleagues, services like this can offer families robust support that they can access in different ways and times. Families can often need support out of the typical 9–5 Monday to Friday and knowing where to get it, can be so reassuring.

Life is very hectic between working, volunteering and family life. But I am so honoured to do what I do and to be a part of such fantastic, passionate teams both in my work and my volunteering role.

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