PONE-D-26-06611An evaluation of a breastfeeding peer support service in North East England; a qualitative study with service users, practitioners and volunteersPLOS One

Dear Dr. Brennan-Tovey,

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Additional Editor Comments:

The reviewers are largely supportive and have requested minor revisions. Do pay attention to those comments about ensuring more critical analysis of the methods and discussion. I would consider the implications on equity of service provision. Do please also check formatting, quotes from your participants and proofread the entire paper.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: N/A

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Each section of the manuscript is well written, and conclusions drawn are appropriate from the results presented.

Below are a few comments

lines 130-13 -Can you include more details about how authors were able to determine point of saturation of responses since the carried out one on one interviews?

line 142-143 should come before lines 140-141

kindly provide more details about how thematic analysis was carried out to ensure interobserver agreement during coding which is the main advantage of Braun and Clarks coding relativity thematic analysis

line 163 participants were allocated participant numbers

Reviewer #2: Thank you for this paper. It is a well written paper evaluating the peer support programme from a multiple sources. There are a few minor points to address, mainly to ensure clarity and add context for the readers.

1. It is not clear what's the difference between a "practioner"and a "volunteer"or "healthcare professional". It would be good if each term can be clearly defined in the background

2. While the objective of the study is clear, the rationale behind the objective isn't as clear. The authors could add more context why the evaluation is needed. The main question I had at the end was "how are these findings going to help the programme?" What changes need to be made?

3. Page 26, Line 9: In the discussion, it was highlighted that one of the limitations was language barrier. In this specific line, being of "black" descent was placed closely with language. I am not really comprehending why that is so. I had thought black women also spoke English.

4. Service and policy recommendations: The recommendation of increasing representation of minority ethnic groups should be more important than translators. Because the support isn't just understanding the language alone but having someone who understands your culture is also important (and that would be lost in translation).

5. At the end of the manuscript, a conclusion section is missing. This should be added.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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An evaluation of a breastfeeding peer support service in North East England: a qualitative study with service users, practitioners and volunteers

PONE-D-26-06611R1

Dear Dr. Brennan-Tovey,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Maria J Berghs, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS One

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: