World Breastfeeding Week: Fed member determined to help other parenting police

3 August 2023

A Fed member and mum-on-a-mission has told how she launched the National Police Breastfeeding Network after hearing from colleagues that they felt ‘forced to stop breastfeeding’ after returning to work following maternity leave.

Sergeant Kat Scrimshaw created the Facebook group 10 months ago, giving policing parents from all forces an online safe space to connect and support one another with their return to work following parental leave.

The group now has 365 members, 248 of which are official ‘breast buddies’ from across the nation, all of whom have received training from a midwife, providing them with the knowledge to effectively support colleagues.

“When I had my first daughter I didn’t even think about how I would feed her, it genuinely never crossed my mind. She was born via c-section and the nurses placed her straight to my breast to feed and she fed,” said mum-of-two Kat, who is shining a light on World Breastfeeding Week, which is celebrated each year from 1 to 7 August, designed to raise awareness and remove the stigma surrounding breastfeeding.

“When my return to work approached I felt very anxious about how it was going to work with my daughter and if I was still going to be able to feed her. She didn’t take a bottle and she fed herself to sleep. How was I going to return to work and work night shifts, what was the effect going to be for my daughter?

Sergeant Kat Scrimshaw

“The more people I spoke to, the more I realised how they would be affected simply by who their line manager was which clearly is not right. This is when I started to hear horror stories from my colleagues from my own and other forces. It made me upset and angry to hear that some of my colleagues had been forced to stop breastfeeding because ‘You're back at work now the baby is too big for milk.’

“Many colleagues have reported being made to feel awkward when asking to go an express some milk and faced with nowhere to go. Colleagues have been forced to sit in their own vehicles and to place the expressed milk into team fridges. This has on occasion been thrown away, used in colleagues tea, ridiculed or left the lady feeling very uncomfortable.

“I became determined that I was going to try and support my colleagues with their breastfeeding journeys.”

Kat explained that since launching the group, she has found that ‘so many women have sadly struggled to continue breastfeeding once returning to work.

“Some forces already have excellent expressing rooms and facilities in place others have nothing. It is a total postcode lottery as to how colleagues are treated,” she continued.

“However, I have heard some awful stories where colleagues have been ridiculed, embarrassed and ordered to stop breastfeeding.

“There seems to be a lack of knowledge and understanding from some line managers about how to support colleagues returning to work while breastfeeding. This lack and understanding creeps into the teams allowing inappropriate comments to be made about females body shapes, new uniform, breast milk itself and the making a joke out of a colleague who is simply trying to feed their baby.”

The network has also established a working group, looking into returning to work and body armour, and Kat has been invited down to Parliament later this year to discuss national breastfeeding policies while showcasing the work of the National Police Breastfeeding Network.

Kat added: “The network is driving some excellent work.

Kat Scrimshaw says the National Police Breastfeeding Network is driving some excellent work.

“We have helped colleagues make challenges to unacceptable behaviour, supported them in setting up expressing rooms as well as created breastfeeding work plans to assist colleagues with their return to work.

“And to be honest, we’re now tackling more issues, not just ensuring a person has space to comfortably breastfeed at work.

“Colleagues are faced with ill-fitting equipment on their return, often forced to complete a bleep test which is not good for their bodies if they are breastfeeding due to the hormones the body is producing.

“One colleague reported that she was forced to role play a suspect in officer safety training. She was thrown onto the floor which caused her breasts to leek leaving her feeling embarrassed, in pain and let down by the police.

“We’re not just here for the breastfeeding parent, we’re a network for their partners too. In fact, the group is open to any policing parent who might just need that extra support following maternity or paternity leave.”

Looking forward, Kat is planning some management training courses that she hopes to role out at the beginning of next year.

She ended: “It’s important that forces have an awareness of breastfeeding and the barriers faced by colleagues returning to the work force after maternity leave and continuing to breastfeed their child.

“Having that awareness of knowing what needs to be put in place is essential to help support breastfeeding or chestfeeding staff and officers.”

The next breast buddy course will be in November 2023. If you are interested in becoming a breast buddy then email nationalpolicebreastfeedingnetwork@westmercia.police.uk.