The Breastfeeding Cafe CIC is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company providing evidence-based breastfeeding and infant feeding support and early parenting workshops across Surrey. We work with local community partners to provide evidence-based support to families from pregnancy through the early years.
Since 2010, The Breastfeeding Café has been providing free, evidence-based breastfeeding support to families across North Surrey. Originally delivering services from a number of local Children’s Centres, including Clarendon Children’s Centre, we created welcoming weekly drop-ins where parents could meet, share experiences and receive consistent support from qualified breastfeeding specialists in a relaxed, friendly environment.
When Surrey’s Children’s Centres closed, we were determined that local families should not lose access to trusted breastfeeding support. In 2021, we established The Breastfeeding Café CIC, a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, to secure funding and ensure the long-term sustainability of our services. As a Community Interest Company, any surplus we generate is reinvested solely for the benefit of the communities of North Surrey and the surrounding areas, enabling us to continue providing free breastfeeding and infant feeding support to local families.
The Breastfeeding Café CIC is led by three highly experienced Directors: Trisha Whisker, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC); Mary Soane, an NCT-trained Breastfeeding Counsellor; and Jenny Sansom, an NCT-trained Breastfeeding Counsellor. Together, they bring almost 70 years of experience supporting families in the local community, combining professional experience with a compassionate, mother-centred approach.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we adapted our services to continue supporting parents online through Zoom, ensuring families could still access expert breastfeeding support when face-to-face services were not possible. Today, we continue to offer support in the ways that work best for families.
The Breastfeeding Café CIC now provides free weekly breastfeeding support groups in Ashford, Sunbury and Shepperton, alongside one-to-one home visits, online Zoom consultations, and ongoing support via WhatsApp. We help families with breastfeeding, infant feeding and the challenges of early parenthood, providing evidence-based information, practical guidance and emotional support that enables parents to feed their babies with confidence.
Our vision is that every family has access to high-quality, compassionate breastfeeding and infant feeding support, regardless of their circumstances. Through a combination of grant funding and paid-for services we continue to improve the health and wellbeing of parents and babies across Surrey while ensuring that trusted breastfeeding support remains freely available for future generations.
Our Mission
The Breastfeeding Café is a Community Interest Company with a mission to: “provide expert breastfeeding and perinatal support to advance the health and wellbeing of families in North Surrey and the surrounding area”.
Our Aims
The Breastfeeding Cafe is working to;
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offer free information and parent-centred support at weekly breastfeeding drop-ins for pregnant and new mothers and their families.
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build the confidence of new parents who access its services and workshops on perinatal topics.
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the reach and accessibility of expert local infant feeding support to include online, telephone and face-to-face consultations.
Our Principles and Values
In pursuit of these aims we will;
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be welcoming and accessible to all, supporting all feeding decisions.
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provide a parent-centred approach to infant feeding support, valuing, respecting and protecting parents’ wishes and goals.
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offer expertise and consistency to parents.
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promote a hands-off approach to encourage confidence to equip parents with the skills to continue to breastfeed when they return home.
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promote a relaxed, informal, safe, child-friendly and non-medical environment to listen to mothers’ infant feeding journeys.
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use up-to-date, evidence-based information when supporting expectant and new parents.
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provide a place for mothers to meet other mothers.
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build relationships with health professionals, peer supporters, volunteers and other local breastfeeding champions to develop a local breastfeeding support network.
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have a clear and transparent decision-making process.
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have transparent and open accounts.