Our WBTi work has revealed that in the UK we have no national guidance on the support and feeding of infants and young children, or pregnant or breastfeeding mothers, during emergencies. There is currently a postcode lottery of Local Resilience Forums who include a few details in their advice to the public such as “Remember to pack formula and nappies for your baby”, but there is no national guidance for LRFs and local authorities that they should include infants and young children in their planning.
This page will serve as a repository for resources for those planning services and those providing feeding support for families in crisis in the UK.
Currently there are many gaps in the support for families who have been evacuated from Afghanistan, so resources in Afghan languages are collected here.
Please send us any suggestions for additional resources
We have a few other resources not included here, including Rapid Assessment Tools and Simple Phrases about feeding, and a Peer Counsellor Training Curriculum in Dari; please email us any enquiries.
CONTACT: wbti@ukbreastfeeding.org
NOTE: We are providing these resources as a public service, but we cannot read the resources in other languages ourselves, so we cannot always vouch for the accuracy of the contents. Please have someone fluent in the language read it for you.
UNICEF UK Baby Friendly resources
Guidance on infant feeding during COVID19 (from BFI, First Steps Nutrition Trust, and NIFN)
First line guidance for local authorities responsible for supporting families
The provision of formula in food banks (November 2020)
Statement on infant formula in food banks (November 2020) – signposting
See also the response to Question 11 on formula donations and distribution in their FAQ here
International humanitarian guidelines and operational guidance
Operational Guidance on Infant feeding in Emergencies
Operational Guidance for Emergency Relief Staff and Programme Managers
Available in numerous languages
Guides on writing/ talking about infant feeding in emergencies and Media Guide
These are extremely useful in framing the situation
Guidance for helpers not trained in supporting infant feeding
This short leaflet sets the context, lists some useful resources for parents, provides information about making up powdered infant formula correctly and describes useful actions in some possible scenarios.
Infant feeding resources – multiple languages
Rapid Assessment tools in various languages – contact wbti@ukbreastfeeding.org
Infant Feeding Counselling resources
Pictorial counselling cards in many languages, adapted to include COVID19 recomendations
Infant Feeding flyer for families in transit (English, Arabic, Farsi, Kurdish)
Developed by the volunteer team from Infant Feeding Support for Refugee Children/ Safely Fed
Email us for more languages
Pictorial book about breastfeeding (no words) from La Leche League Netherlands
The PDF is free to use for all. Printing and sharing is allowed, as long as the original file (including credits) is unaltered. Price listed on website is for printed version.
Breastfeeding resources in multiple languages (Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, USA)
Infant Feeding in Emergencies Social Media resources:
Support for Refugee Children Facebook Page
Memes/ graphics in multiple languages, with appropriate captions
Safely Fed UK Facebook page – volunteers welcome to create graphics in Canva and to monitor the page! Contact WBTi UK: wbti@ukbreastfeeding.org
Resources in Afghan languages: Dari and Farsi
Background information on breastfeeding in Afghanistan: WBTi 2019 report on Afghanistan
Pictorial counselling cards for Afghanistan, in Dari
Infant Feeding flyer for families in transit: versions in Farsi and English
Developed by the volunteer team from Infant Feeding Support for Refugee Children/ Safely Fed
Breastfeeding Confidence booklet by the Australian Breastfeeding Association, in Dari
Breastfeeding Matters – An Important Guide to Breastfeeding for Women and their Families (from best Start, Ontario Canada) can be downloaded free in Farsi
Breastfeeding information in Farsi and other languages (Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, USA)
Please do contact us if you are interested in volunteering or have some useful resources to share!!
CONTACT: wbti@ukbreastfeeding.org
Breastfeeding trends (UK) 