Introducing Acorn Pack advertiser, BoobBaby

Sarah Appleton, founder of breastfeeding equipment and accessories website and resource centre, BoobBaby, talks about what inspired her to start the company and her plans for the future.

BoobBaby is a new website providing supplies and accessories to the breastfeeding mum. We also have a resource centre, which aims to provide information to mothers who are breastfeeding and also to mums-to-be who are planning to breastfeed. BoobBaby is a small, family business run by myself, Sarah Appleton, along with my husband Ryan.

The idea for the website came about after my experience in trying to establish breastfeeding with my son. After a traumatic birth, which ended in an emergency caesarean and me losing 2.5 litres of blood and being very poorly, we found it difficult to get breastfeeding going. It was made more difficult as my son lost too much weight after birth, resulting in a trip back to hospital. This completely knocked my confidence in my ability to feed and nourish my son and I was very close to giving up breastfeeding altogether. However, after a stern word from a midwife and with some determination, we stuck at it and have not looked back since. 18 months down the line, we have a happy little boy who still loves his boob. As a result of my experience I have become increasingly passionate about breastfeeding and think that there needs to be more support for women who want to breastfeed, but are finding it difficult.

There is a wealth of excellent information and advice on the Internet, and also excellent telephone support from breastfeeding charities. However, I have found it difficult to find straightforward, accurate information quickly. Some websites who sell breastfeeding supplies do provide breastfeeding information but I have either found this information to be inaccurate and unreliable or too long winded for a busy breastfeeding mum to take in relevant points.

So the aim with BoobBaby is to not only to provide quality breastfeeding supplies, but to also provide information and advice about breastfeeding that is easy to read and easy to find quickly. I have done a lot of research and the information on the website is from reliable, trustworthy sources. It covers the main issues experienced by breastfeeding mothers and aims to complement information from breastfeeding charities and organisations. There are also links to other reliable sites that offer more in-depth information.

Here at BoobBaby, we pride ourselves in not only offering quality products at competitive prices, but also in offering outstanding customer service. As a small, family-run company, we are able to pay close attention to our customer needs and provide ongoing support and information, something that the larger companies cannot provide. Here are some recent reviews from our customers:

“Hi, I just wanted to thank you for such amazing service, I only ordered my spare part yesterday afternoon and it was delivered by 9.30am this morning. I will definitely recommend you to my friends and will use you again should I need to. Thank you.” (Niki, Suffolk)

“Thanks for the excellent customer service; I will recommend you to my other pregnant friends!”

Ryan and I both work outside of BoobBaby, but we are lucky in that we can arrange it so that at least one of us is around to run the website and answer any customer queries. It also means that our son has at least one of us around at all times, something that is very important to us. We have a routine that means orders are sent out within 24 hours and most of the paperwork is done in the evening. It can be hard work juggling everything at times, but so far we seem to be managing well!

For me, the most enjoyable part about running the business is helping our customers. I know how hard breastfeeding can be to establish and hope that our service helps mums to gain knowledge and know where to find help if they need it.

Our aim for the future is to expand our product range and to be the first place a breastfeeding mum looks if they want to buy any supplies. We also plan to expand our information section. Of course, no matter how much we grow, we intend to maintain our record of providing great customer service.