NHS guidelines recommend that babies have nothing but breast milk for about the first six months (26 weeks) of life...
Consensus around the globe is that (where possible) breastfeeding provides significant benefits to both mothers and babies...
So how are we doing...
Breastfeeding initiation rates are among the highest internationally:
Of course, many mothers can't or struggle to breastfeed - so it is positive that NHS stats suggest that 73% of mothers start breastfeeding. In fact, breastfeeding initiation rates in the UK are some of the highest internationally.
But by 6-8 weeks the picture on breastfeeding is less positive:
Statistics published today by Public Health England are less convincing...
They show that at 6-8 weeks, just 44.3% of babies are partially or fully breastfed.
Other evidence shows that longer-term picture is one of steady decline in breastfeeding rates over the first six months of life - the UK has a very low breastfeeding continuation rate internationally.
(Note that this is based on only a subset of local authorities that were able to complete and return accurate data on breastfeeding)
Equally concerning are the breastfeeding differences across the country:
London is a clear outlier with over 70% of women still breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks after birth.
At the other end of the scale, Northern regions all have breastfeeding rates at 6-8 weeks over well below 40%.
Breastfeeding differences are also large within regions...
The chart shows the distribution of breastfeeding rates between local authorities (that have reported full data) in each region...
And there appears to be a relationship between breastfeeding and deprivation...
So what can we say about breastfeeding in England...
1) If the health benefits (for mothers and children) are real (which one must believe they are given the significant campaign that the NHS is running) - there should be real concerns about the low rates of breastfeeding across England.
2) This is all the more concerning given the distribution of breastfeeding across England. Northern regions suffer and so too do local authorities with higher deprivation scores.
3) This should make breastfeeding a significant concern for social mobility. As has already been demonstrate by academic research . In fact, this is not a new argument - there is a significant body of research from across the world that shows that breastfeeding has important developmental and life-chances impacts.
4) The challenge is in making seemingly small (compared to tax and benefit changes and education / childcare) policies like this a much stronger part of the public policy discourse. In a time of limited government resources and Brexit-enforced limits on Parliamentary time, a renewed focus on issues like this could be a good way forward in tackling the UK's persistent problem of social mobility.
