Peter Fortune, MP was delighted to attend the official launch of Baby Café Bromley on Monday 24 February. He was welcomed by Sherry Bevan, NCT President and local NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor.
NCT Baby Café Bromley takes place at St Augustine’s Church, Southborough Lane, Bromley BR2 8AT on Mondays. It offers skilled breastfeeding and infant feeding support to families in Bromley and surrounding areas.
The work of NCT and the NCT Baby Café model is of particular interest to Peter. Before elected Member of Parliament for Bromley and Biggin Hill in July 2024, Peter was Deputy Leader of Bromley Council and Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Families, leading the transformation of Children’s Services, which received an Ofsted grade of ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding Leadership’ in 2019.
NCT Baby Café Bromley is supported with two years of funding from the National Lottery Community Fund. This covers the cost of an experienced breastfeeding counsellor, venue hire, refreshments and volunteer expenses. Funding means that the drop-in is free and open to all.
About NCT and the NCT Baby Café model
NCT is the charity that supports people as they become parents. NCT supports parents with their unique experience of pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood. NCT’s vision is that everyone who becomes a parent feels confident, connected, and safe.
For nearly 70 years, NCT has made a real difference in the lives of women, new parents, babies, and families across the UK. From campaigns to services, millions of parents have trusted NCT for support, and to advocate on the issues that matter most to them. Read more about NCT’s impact on the website.
The NCT Baby Café is a national model with established good practice standards, data collection and evaluation to monitor reach and why mothers visit.
History of NCT Baby Café Bromley
NCT Baby Café Bromley launched a pilot in December 2022 in a community pub, The Lord Holmesdale. We reached 144 families in our first year with an average of 4 families a week.
We remain incredibly grateful to the landlords at The Lord Holmesdale for providing us a free venue for 18 months. When the landlords moved on, we decided to move to a new venue in an easily accessible location with good public transport links. We wanted a venue with more space and kitchen access so we can offer more social support with refreshments, a clear learning from the pilot.
What Baby Café Bromley offers
Baby Café Bromley offers support and evidence-based information on a range of feeding topics from an experienced and qualified breastfeeding counsellor, in an informal, social environment.
Many women feel that they have been given unrealistic expectations of breastfeeding by professionals keen to promote the benefits. This leaves them feeling unprepared when they encounter pain, problems and the relentlessness of the early days. This leads to feelings of guilt and inadequacy over feeding decisions. It increases social isolation and affects their mental health.
Research shows that 80% of women stop breastfeeding sooner than intended because of feeding difficulties and lack of adequate support.
Baby Café Bromley aims to give local parents a more positive experience of breastfeeding and social support from other parents going through similar experiences.
Baby Café Bromley provides a pathway to further resources on breastfeeding, weaning and other community services to families. We welcome mothers, babies, and pregnant women, as well as partners. We work alongside local Health Visitors and midwives, with whom we have established good working relations, to add a complementary service in the community, including specialist referral to appropriate local healthcare services for any clinical or medical issues.
About NCT breastfeeding counsellors
Baby Café Bromley is run by Sherry Bevan, an experienced breastfeeding counsellor who qualified in 2010. Sherry is also NCT President and has sat on the board of trustees since 2019. Her term finishes in October 2025.
NCT breastfeeding counsellors are mothers with lived experience of breastfeeding, who can support parents with complex infant feeding issues.
They have extensive in-depth counselling skills and infant feeding knowledge, having studied for an average of 2 years. They are trained and accredited by individual organisations. Many are university accredited.
Find out more about Baby Cafe Bromley on our Facebook page.
Where to get support
NCT Infant Feeding Line open 8am to midnight, every day of the year: 0300 330 0700
National Breastfeeding Line available 24 hours a day, every day of the year: 0300 100 0212.
Find local expert support in the UK Breastfeeding Directory.
If you’re local to Bromley, pop in and see me at Baby Cafe Bromley on Monday mornings. Or book a private 1:1 home visit.
Read Sherry’s book The Confident Mother.
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