About Us

Hayley
Retired 2010

Wendy

Where It All Began

Cradles was created in 2005 in conjunction with Sure Start Erewash and the NHS Primary Care Trust. The group was created to provide a friendly and accessible service to mums in the Ilkeston area, which aimed to help women with breastfeeding problems. The first group of Peer Supporters finished their training that July and began visiting local postnatal clinics. From there, the group has grown and now includes:

A weekly drop-in session where mums can chat and have refreshments.
Telephone support for when people are at home.
Antenatal sessions with mums-to-be at Ilkeston Hospital.
Attendance at any other local groups who request the benefit of our support.

Cradles has been independent since March 2008, but the group still works closely with the Health Visiting team and other healthcare workers based in Ilkeston.

All of our Peer Supporters are mums who have breastfed, or are still breastfeeding their children. They are volunteers who have undergone an intensive, eight-week training course covering all aspects of breastfeeding. Once qualified, they receive regular supervision to update their knowledge.

Why “Cradles”?

Founder member Lorraine recalls it was a struggle to come up with a name for the group. "We needed something that not only linked to the subject matter but also was easily memorable. Originally we came up with 'Bras' as bras support breasts, which contain milk, and we support mums. But we thought that was a really dreadful idea and that we ought to come up with something better! Cradles seemed ideal: you cradle a baby and we cradle the mums. The name stuck!"

  Cradles' first group of volunteer mums in 2005

Some of this information has been adapted from the following article: http://www.babyworld.co.uk/information/baby/breastfeeding/supportgroups.asp

Lynsey

Gemma

Tamil

Coral

Fif