KeepKentBreastfeeding was planned and created on the 25th and 26th of July 2017 by Tannice and Jacques Hemming, who run fledgling marketing consultancy Hemming Communications Limited.
It was made after an impromptu meeting was held with 4 ladies from Maidstone and Malling on the 25th July – Karen McCully, Rebecca Cluett, Charlie Rowlands and Sarah Gadson. We all discussed the features of the website and what it would and could be.
The simple aim of the site is to raise awareness of Kent County Council’s proposed cuts to the currently available breastfeeding support services and to help people respond. Breastfeeding support services are close to both Jacques and Tannice’s hearts as they used the services a lot when their daughter, Sienna, was born in February 2016.
Tannice and Sienna struggled with many breastfeeding problems from the beginning – tongue tie that went undiagnosed by both her Midwives and her Health Visitors for three weeks until she visited a Lactation Consultant at Little Forest Children’s Centre, in Tunbridge Wells. Tannice also had gestational diabetes during her pregnancy which necessitated antenatal expression of colostrum and checking of her Sienna’s blood sugar levels. To help other mothers with their breastfeeding journeys and give back to the Kent community, Tannice wanted to become a Breastfeeding Peer Supporter.
Tannice graduated as a Breastfeeding Peer Supporter in June 2017 after training with Karen McCully at PS Breastfeeding CIC and was of course devastated in July when she learned of Kent County Council’s proposed cuts to the Infant Feeding Contract planned for January 2018.
