17 December 2004
Haroon Siddique
VOLUNTEERS involved in a Camden baby feeding study were rewarded with a special visit from
TV star Davina McCall.
The Big Brother presenter handed out certificates to mums who offered nutritional advice to new parents for a University College London (UCL) project, in Euston, last week.
Researcher Dr Watt said: "We spoke to Davina McCall because she is a mother of two small children and has been supporting the Department of Health breast feeding work.
"So we thought she might be interested in helping us and she was very keen to lend her support."
The study involving 312 mothers from Camden and Islington started in 2002, funded by the Government's Food Standards Agency.
The aim was to see how babies benefited when their parents were given guidance on breastfeeding and the introduction of new foods by experienced mums.
The specially trained volunteers visited half of the new mothers once a month while the other half received the usual visits from health workers.
Dr Watt said: "Previous research shows babies may be given inappropriate food.
"We looked at giving them foods low in salt and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption.
"There is a lot of evidence it gives real benefits preventing asthma and obesity."
The babies in the study were three to four months old and visits continued until they reached the age of one.
Dr Watt said: "At this stage we are still evaluating the long-term effects but we have the initial feedback from the mums and it is generally very positive.
"The evidence so far is people really value one-to-one personal, non-judgemental support."
Marie Holt, 27, took part in the project and received advice on her first-born Spencer.
She said: "My volunteer's name was Sian, she had two children of her own and was really supportive.
"I would definitely recommend it because it gave me the motivation to feed Spencer with healthy foods rather than junk food and chocolate."
UCL is currently in discussion with Camden Primary Care Trust to provide support as standard to babies up to six months old.
And Dr Watt added: "We are trying to get funding to do a long-term follow up with the same babies when they are children to see if we can help them when they are three or four years old."
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