A group of Solihull mums and babies ‘latched on’ during World Breastfeeding Awareness Week and helped to break the world record for the most children breastfeeding simultaneously.

Solihull Community Services’ Infant Feeding Team, part of Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, joined the 19 mums in Mell Square, Solihull, as a part of the Global Big Latch On event.

With 19 latches and 54 total attendees, Solihull helped alongside 781 other locations and 28 countries to set a new global record and beat last year’s record of 14,889 simultaneous latches with 17,223 latches. This is a big change from when the first Global Big Latch On was held in 2010 where there were only 2,045 latches with just two countries taking part.

Elaine Bates, infant feeding specialist, was delighted by the positive public reception and interest and said: “We had a grandmother ask for information for her pregnant daughter, and another lady who was curious about what we were doing.

“After the event a lady came over to congratulate us on being there and said she no longer breastfed but had come along to our breastfeeding cafes in the past.”

The Global Big Latch On encourages small locations to take part so that busy mums can stay close to their home, meet other local parents and enable whole communities to get involved.

Elaine added: “It was a lovely sunny day and the mums, partners and children were all very happy to be there, so there was lots of chatter and smiles.”

For further advice and support on breastfeeding, please contact Solihull Community Infant Feeding Service on 0121 713 8924, email elaine.bates@heartofengland.nhs.uk or visit their website www.youplusbaby.co.uk