THE unsung heroes to mums across the South Lakes are to be celebrated by a new award launched by a breastfeeding support group.

South Cumbria Breastfeeding Support have proudly announced the winner of the inaugural "Breast Friends Award".

This scheme asks mums across the South Lakes to put forward a healthcare professional who they feel went the extra mile for them.

This year the winner was health visitor Helen Mbaye. She was nominated by Charlene Boyd, 22, in recognition of the help she received after the birth of her son, Corey.

In her nomination Ms Boyd said: "Helen has been supportive, friendly, knowledgeable, empathetic and has played a significant part in my breastfeeding journey. Her support for breastfeeding has had a domino effect on my life, giving the confidence to enable me to feed in public, making me feel proud of myself for being able to do so.

"I gave birth to my son three weeks early and many gave their opinion that I wouldn’t be able to breastfeed him. With Helen's advice, I was empowered to trust my body, my son and my natural instincts which empowered me to stand up to other people’s opinions."

Ann Bruce, international board certified lactation consultant at SCBS, said this kind of nomination showed what the awards were all about.

She said: "The awards were to give recognition to health professionals and celebrate that. Sometimes they are unsung heroes. We want to spread awareness that a mum's breastfeeding success isn't just down to the mum, it is a journey influenced by everyone around her, family, friends, society, and health professionals."

This year the group collected nominations from mums all over the South Lakes. SCBS supports families through their drop in centres at Ulverston, Kendal and Windermere.

The judging panel felt that Ms Boyd's nomination showed in a very powerful way how providing support for a mum when breastfeeding can have a much wider effect in the mum’s life, building her confidence and self-esteem.

Ms Boyd said: "With Helen's support, I am still able to feed my son who is now 16 months old. She has given me confidence in myself, to be able to stand up for myself which before I don't think I would have been able to do. With this support she's had an incredible impact on my breastfeeding journey as well as my self-esteem."

South Cumbria Breastfeeding Support would like to thank Helen Mbaye, and all their local health professionals for the work they do in supporting mums to breastfeed.

Full details on the drop in groups run by SCBS are on their website here .

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