Overcoming the Cultural Barriers to Breastfeeding
The Holding Time Milk Line celebrates Bradford mothers through an immersive walking trail of art, poetry, and storytelling. Created by artist Lisa Creagh for Baby Week Bradford, the trail links Family Hubs and green spaces, inviting families to listen, reflect, and connect with local stories of motherhood, feeding, and wellbeing.
The Bradford Podcast amplifies mothers’ diverse voices on breastfeeding, adoption, milk donation, birth trauma, and cultural traditions—part of Holding Time’s wider Creative Health programme in Bradford.
We are proud to announce that Holding Time received the Royal Society for Public Health’s Health & Wellbeing Award 2024 for its pioneering arts and health work supporting breastfeeding, mothers, and NHS partners.
Unveiling: 12-3pm Friday November 15th, 1.00PM Bowling Park Wild area, Bradford I am always looking for ways to reach more … More
I’m Rachel New, a broadcaster, writer and workshop facilitator. I’ve been running creative and therapeutic writing workshops for breastfeeding mothers, … More
Singing Mamas joined with the Holding Time Project Manchester mothers to create a warm afternoon of storytelling and chorus for the end of the writing workshops at Manchester Art Gallery.
Gathering together key conversations from the Holding Time project about motherhood, breastfeeding, history, culture, support and more…!
Women are constantly faced with this difficult choice. And it is often a woman’s choice whether they want to carry on with their career and keep climbing the ladder and earning more and getting what they deserve, or whether they want to prioritise their children. There’s just this constant juggle of yourself over your child. I feel like I do prioritise myself a lot. I’ve been very selfish in many ways to continue with this work. The unselfish thing perhaps, would have been to go and get a job.
Wellness is more than a lifestyle choice, or an expression of consumer buying power. Creating resilience takes time and work and is a right not a privilege.
I quickly realised that I needed a whole new map of my city: one that outlined the best places to meet, sit, feed without feeling awkward or in the way. better still, I needed places with built-in free activities ; mother groups, childrens activities for friends with toddlers and anywhere, ANYWHERE WITH CAKE.
Breastfeeding has profound and long-lasting health advantages, but the risks of poor maternal well-being run just as deep. The “breast is best” message has, in many cases, done more harm than good for both breastfeeding and formula feeding women. Words carry a lot of power and we need to be very careful of their use in future breastfeeding promotion campaigns.
For many, the current WHO recommendation of six months of exclusive breastfeeding is simply not realistic and can discourage mothers from even initiating breastfeeding. Instead we should follow a woman-centred approach where mothers are empowered to set their own realistic targets.
In my aim to bring The Holding Time Project to areas where breastfeeding is lowest, I came to appreciate the … More
