Shortlisted finalists!

Awards...what awards? 

Until a letter dropped on the studio door mat from Lansinoh, we had no idea that there was such a thing as  a ‘Feed With Confidence Award’. In August the company launched their first ever award, open to businesses nationally, for their support of breastfeeding parents.  So, you can imagine our even greater surprise when reading on, to discover that due to nominations from our customers, Saramique Studio has been shortlisted as finalists! You could have knocked us down with a feather! 

Shouting louder When we opened in May 2016 we spent a lot of time vocalising our support for breastfeeding parents, letting people know this was a space you can come to (with no obligation to buy a thing) when baby decides its time to feed. We contacted the then local MP, who himself has pioneered some key changes for breastfeeding parents, to discuss the national Breastfeeding Welcome campaign. We offered those who did drop by just to feed, a free cup of tea. We offered our coffeehouse to SureStart’s breastfeeding group for their weekly meetings and during the months that they did so, we took much pleasure from seeing friendships formed and babies grow. It is easy to assume that people now just know what we are about and what you can expect when visiting, and it wasn’t until the lovely letter from Lansinoh arrived that we realised it had been a long time since we had ‘shouted’ about what we offer to all of our visiting families.  

Family facilities We thought this was a good time to remind you all about our facilities. We have a dedicated family washroom which offers changing table, spare supplies of nappies and wipes (we have been there ourselves...in that moment when the child decides its time to ‘make use’ of the last nappy in the bag!), toys and books to entertain, hand towel rather than dryer so as not to frighten baby, a special bin that discards of your nappies in a safe and sanitary way meaning no lingering smells for the next customers, a relaxing and comfortable space for any parent who prefers to feed in private (yes...loo removed...who wants to feed their child lunch in a toilet?!). All these things are little details of course, but they still matter to us...because you matter to us. In the studio and coffeehouse you have access to high chairs, bottle/food warmer, book share, pencils, games...and of course a relaxing and warm environment that has welcomed and supported breastfeeding parents from day one. 

Feed with confidence 

When we initially launched our ‘free tea’ we received lots of positive feedback. We also had a couple of parents who questioned why it would only be breastfeeding mum who receives that cuppa. A valid question, certainly. We support all families however they feed their baby and this is demonstrated not only by our facilities but also the service received when visiting. As bottle feeding parents we seldom came up against discrimination when baby needed feeding. When hungry, they fed and we were rarely were made to feel uncomfortable. This should be the right and expectation of all babies and all parents. We understand that there are mothers who choose to breastfeed, those who would like to and cannot, and those who choose not to. We of course welcome everyone. By vocalising support for breastfeeding mothers to feed in public, we are not taking a moral or political high ground on how any parent should feed their child, but we are taking a stand on trying to minimise the discrimination of those who sadly still come up against it. Everyone has the right to feed with confidence. 

Vote now!  We have the window sticker that Lansinoh sent us - awarding us 5 stars for supporting breastfeeding mums - proudly displayed and hopefully it will continue to reassure ALL families that they are welcomed here. Of course, now that we are aware of the award, that we have received these nominations and have been shortlisted, it would be shamefully fibbing to suggest we didn’t want to receive more votes! However, this is less about winning an award and more about using this opportunity to spread the word...to encourage all businesses to support all parents to feed with confidence.  Thank you A heartfelt thank you to those who have nominated Saramique Studio for the Feed With Confidence Award 2017. For those who haven’t nominated and would like to, please do follow the link and cast your vote.  Click here to nominate