Analysis self-confidence in a mother’s ability to parent. Providing an environment that encourages these intuitive behaviours lays the foundation for a strong mother-baby relationship and should be encouraged for all mothers irrespective of how they intend to feed their baby. The surges of oxytocin released during breastfeeding continue to encourage emotional attachment and wellbeing. Mothers and babies have innate breastfeeding instincts that can be supported through time spent in skin-to-skin contact at any stage during the postnatal period. While oxytocin responses will not be the same in mothers who bottle feed, they can benefit from holding their baby close during feeds and limiting the number of people involved with feeding, and this will help their babies to feel more secure. Brain development The Baby Friendly Initiative provides a staged assessment process to improve outcomes for all children, including a greater emphasis on early brain development, attachment and positive parenting interactions for mothers who breastfeed and bottle feed their infants. While the initiative is a key element in improving care, it cannot work in isolation. A multifaceted programme of policy and interventions to deliver sustainable change is needed, through investment in breastfeeding and relationship building, to promote mother-infant attachment, improve the emotional wellbeing for mother and child, and help families give their children the best start in life. Public Health England’s week of action, Giving Children and Young People the Best Start to Life, runs from November 17 to 21. ■■ Don’t miss the December issue of Nursing Children and Young People, which features a continuing professional development article on lactation in mothers with sick infants. Francesca Entwistle is London lead and national representative, National Infant Feeding Network, professional adviser Unicef UK, and midwifery lecturer, University of Hertfordshire NURSING CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Nurse picks up the challenge of building interdisciplinary links Judith Ellis takes up role of chief executive with medical college for child health as it considers opening up to wider professional membership. Clare Lomas reports WHEN LEADING children’s nurse and academic Judith Ellis was appointed chief executive of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), she became the first nurse to take up this role since the doctors’ organisation was founded in 1996. A former director of nursing at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, Professor Ellis was awarded an MBE in 1998. She joins the college at a time of unprecedented change – she was less than one week into the job when members attended an emergency general meeting to vote on establishing a multiprofessional Foundation of Child Health. The aim of the foundation, which would open up an arm of the RCPCH to all child health professionals, including nurses, was to improve the college’s influence over children’s lives. Although 54% of the members present (217) voted in favour of the foundation, the college’s by-laws require a two-thirds majority, so the proposal was rejected. ‘This would have been a powerful tool,’ says Professor Ellis. ‘One professional voice

Newly appointed to lead the RCPCH: nurse Judith Ellis

would enable us to exert additional political pressure for policy change around the health of children and young people in the UK. ‘But asking a medical royal college to open up to all professionals, including charities, is a massive move,’ she adds. ‘It is enormous change, but this has opened the door. If the majority of people already want it to happen, I am sure it will.’ One area Professor Ellis will be making a priority is child and adolescent mental health, which she says has been a ‘troubled service’ for some time. In the run-up to next May’s general election, the RCPCH is calling for greater investment in children and young people’s mental health, particularly focusing on early intervention; national investment in evidence-based parenting programmes and a regular prevalence study of mental illness among children and young people. Education It is also working with the charity YoungMinds on a website. Funded by the Department of Health, and backed by organisations including the RCN, MindEd (www.minded.org.uk) provides guidance and education for anybody working with children and young people. To improve child and infant mortality rates in the UK, the RCPCH is developing an online clinical decision tool to help community practitioners diagnose and treat conditions in children early. The college is also leading an initiative, being trialled at 12 hospitals in England, to ensure that a child’s deteriorating condition is spotted early, therefore preventing missed diagnoses. ‘I am very proud of nursing,’ she adds. ‘It is a phenomenal profession for learning leadership skills and prepares you well for this sort of role.’ RCPCH president Hilary Cass said: ‘Judith knows the challenges of developing a truly interprofessional paediatric workforce. Collective working and strengthening the voice of child health is a priority for the RCPCH and it is only by working across disciplines that we will achieve the best health outcomes for children.’ November 2014 | Volume 26 | Number 9

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Nurse picks up the challenge of building interdisciplinary links.

WHEN LEADING children's nurse and academic Judith Ellis was appointed chief executive of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), sh...
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