New mums encouraged to breast-feed

8:38am Wednesday 6th August 2008

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A fresh attempt to encourage new mothers to breast-feed their children will be launched after figures revealed women in Oxfordshire are lagging behind parts of Europe.

According to figures published by the Department of Health, 78.3% of new mums in the county initiated breast-feeding in the days after giving birth.

This was fractionally more than the national average rate, of 78.0%, but compared poorly to other European countries, where take-up reached 99%.

The Department of Health recommends exclusive breast-feeding for the first six months of an infants life, as breast milk provides all the nutrients a baby needs at this time.

But of the 78% of mothers in England who started breast-feeding, only 22% were still doing it at six months, the 2007/8 figures showed.

Breast milk is also said to protect babies from infection and diseases such as gastro-intestinal infections, ear infections, urine infections, eczema and obesity in later childhood.

Yesterday the DoH announced it would be investing an extra £2 million to help improve the UK's breast-feeding rate, and in particular help mums in deprived areas.

The detailed allocation of the funding has yet to be finalised, but is likely to include cash for health trusts to set up breast-feeding support groups and provide more specialist nurses.

Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: "By international standards not enough women breast-feed in England. This money will help more mums - particularly those in more deprived areas - to breast-feed and to do so for longer.

"We want to ensure women know the importance of breast-feeding and the benefits to themselves and their baby. "

The Department of Health noted that breast-feeding rates in Europe were as high as 99%, in Norway, 98% in Denmark, 97.7% in Sweden, 94% in Switzerland, 93% in Austria, 91% in Italy and 84.2% in Spain. Only Germany (77.8%), France (69%) and Ireland (53%) have lower rates than England.