Health visitors and children’s centres in North Somerset have been awarded for the excellent support they provide to mums and babies in the area.

The services have been presented with the UK Baby Friendly Initiative Gold Award – the highest accolade and next step for services accredited as baby-friendly by Unicef UK.

The award celebrates excellent and sustained practice in the support of infant feeding and parent-infant relationships.

Achieving the award is dependent on services meeting Unicef UK’s achieving sustainability standards which are designed to help embed high quality care for the long term.

Amanda Yates, health visiting lead at Sirona Care & Health, said: “The feedback we’ve received from Unicef UK about the support we provide to North Somerset mums is enormously positive.

“It is very rewarding for us to know that mothers gain so much from the specialist infant feeding service we provide and we are proud to play such an important role in their journey.

“We have been commended for the on-going support we have provided to mums throughout the Covid-19 pandemic which demonstrates our commitment to giving children the best start in life.

“We have worked in partnership with our valued peer supporters and local children’s centres to achieve this award and are immensely grateful to them for their support and partnership.

“Our health visitors work hard to promote breastfeeding and support mums and their babies and it is wonderful to see their commitment recognised by this prestigious award.

“We’re extremely proud of the support we offer and are determined to build on our success throughout 2020 and beyond.”

Mary Lewis, director of nursing at Sirona, added: “Receiving the Unicef UK award is a fantastic achievement and truly demonstrates the dedication and commitment of our health visitors and their partners in North Somerset.

“This award is a celebration of excellent practice in infant feeding support and the important role of health visitors and many others play in nurturing the development of parent-infant relationships. We are extremely proud to be accredited as a Gold Baby Friendly service.”