The Breastfeeding Network (BfN)
Breastfeeding charityA UK charity whose Drugs in Breastmilk service is run by registered pharmacists trained in breastfeeding support. · United Kingdom
Visit the source site · Audited 2026-10-14
Who pays for it
For the year ended March 31, 2025, BfN reported £2,801,689 in income; its accounts say local-authority, Department of Health and Scottish Government commissions are the majority of funding.
Status: Supporting
Supporting because its pharmacist-maintained factsheets use research and national guidance, with a clear policy rejecting commercial infant-feeding support. Public commissioning is a major funding source, and medication pages need a separate current check.
How SafeMomma uses it
SafeMomma cites BfN for breastfeeding and medicine information alongside a current independent source and relevant clinical context.
The audit
- Who controls it
- Registered pharmacists trained in breastfeeding support run BfN's Drugs in Breastmilk service and maintain its factsheets. Some individual pages do not identify a named author or reviewer.
- Money
- BfN's year ending March 31, 2025 accounts report £2,801,689 income and £2,848,233 expenditure. Peer-support grants and contracts totaled £1,814,841, and its accounts say public commissions are the majority of funding.
- Conflict rules
- BfN's funding policy rejects money or gifts from companies with commercial interests in infant feeding, including breast-milk substitutes, bottles and teats. Medication factsheets do not consistently display author-level financial disclosures.
- Method
- BfN says factsheets draw on national guidance, research, pharmacokinetic data and other references. It does not use one formal certainty-grading system across every page, so medication-specific claims need a current second check.
- Dates on its pages
- BfN says factsheets are reviewed on an ongoing basis, usually within three years or sooner after major updates, and individual pages carry their own review dates.
- Political exposure
- BfN's 2024–25 accounts warn that short contracts, delays and procurement changes, including changes taking effect in February 2025, may affect services. The review found no evidence that a commissioner directed a medication factsheet or caused a clinical revision.
- Money exposure
- The 2024–25 accounts report £611,066 in helpline grants and contracts from SERCO/OHID and £13,800 from the Scottish Government. The funding policy rejects commercial infant-feeding support; no relevant lawsuit or sponsorship controversy was identified.
- Track record
- A 2019 Swansea University evaluation commissioned by BfN reported favorable user and professional views of its Drugs in Breastmilk service, but it was not a systematic review of each recommendation. No major retraction or breastfeeding-content correction was identified in the reviewed materials.
Where this comes from
Incentive exposure describes pressure from money or politics, not whether the source is right. Funding alone does not show influence.