Breastfeeding clinics welcome new parents across Wandsworth

From August 2024, health visiting teams in Wandsworth have linked a refreshed timetable of breastfeeding drop-in groups and baby clinics with a new Breastfeeding Friendly Scheme, giving local parents more places to feed comfortably during everyday trips to children’s centres, GP surgeries and community venues.

Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust now runs breastfeeding support groups on at least three weekdays, typically between 9:30am and 3:00pm, alongside Well Baby weigh-in clinics across sites such as York Gardens Children’s Centre, Roehampton Family Hub and Smallwood Children’s Centre, with a duty advice line available from 9:00am to 5:00pm for families who prefer telephone support.

Alongside clinic-based care, Wandsworth Council’s Breastfeeding Friendly Scheme, launched in early August 2024 with the Breastfeeding Network, invites high-street businesses from hairdressers and cafés to libraries and museums to display a shared logo and adjust staff training so that parents can expect the same welcome whether they are feeding in a children’s centre waiting room or a local shop.

Recent national figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities show that the proportion of infants in England who are breastfed at six to eight weeks has risen to 52.7 per cent in 2023 to 2024, up from 49.2 per cent the year before, while earlier Wandsworth Joint Strategic Needs Assessment data recorded local rates increasing from 26 per cent to 79 per cent across 2018 to 2019, suggesting that the borough’s combined clinic network and community schemes are being used to narrow remaining gaps in who benefits from breastfeeding support.

At home, health visitors now structure the first weeks after birth around a home visit between 10 and 14 days, a further contact at about six weeks and targeted signposting to group sessions or specialist infant feeding clinics, aiming to keep practical support, growth checks and advice on breastmilk or formula feeding within a short journey for most families.

Voluntary organisations including La Leche League, the National Childbirth Trust and national helplines sit alongside these NHS and council-run activities, so that in a single week a new parent in Wandsworth might speak to a health visitor by phone, attend a baby clinic in a children’s centre and then feed comfortably in a participating café displaying the borough’s breastfeeding sticker.

24 November 2025 13:26 By London Health News Desk