Why British mums are world’s worst for breastfeeding

BRITAIN has the lowest rate of breastfeeding in the world because of the social pressures placed on women, an academic has claimed.

Psychologist Amy Brown said the expectation that new mothers should shed their baby weight, as well as socialise and go back to work had helped put the UK at the bottom of an international league on breastfeeding.

Government cuts have also normalised bottle feeding and led to breastfeeding being regarded as ‘sexual’ and ‘weird’.

As a result, just one in 200 children here – 0.5 per cent – still receives some breast milk at age of 12 months – the lowest rate in the world. In contrast, 27 per cent of babies in the US, 35 per cent in Norway and 44 per cent in New Zealand are breastfed until they are at least a year old.

The analysis of breastfeeding rates was led by the World Health Organisation and published in the Lancet in January.

The NHS advises that women should feed their babies exclusively with breast milk until they are at least six months old, and then continue breastfeeding for another 18 months, while gradually introducing other food.

The British Science Festival heard yesterday that if half of new mothers breastfed for four months, not only would the health of women and babies by improved, but some £40million would be saved in GP and hospital appointments. Dr Brown, of Swansea University’s department of public health, said Britain’s low rates of breastfeeding can largely be blamed on societal pressures.

She told the conference that we live in a country in which breastfeeding is seen as ‘unnecessary’, ‘weird’ and ‘sexual’, leading to nursing women being thrown out of shops and cafes.

And she said that while the Government pushes the ‘breast is best’ message, cuts to services mean that those who struggle do not get the support they need.

As a result, despite more than 90 per cent of UK mothers wanting to breastfeed, more than half of babies have had some formula milk by the end of their first week, Dr Brown said.

‘New mothers face significant social pressure to “get their lives back” quickly after having a baby – by socialising, getting back in their jeans – which can make breastfeeding so overwhelming.

‘Women can stop breastfeeding because they are under that pressure and think they should be coping far better with life. We are engrained in, “Formula is fine, it’s what you do, that’s how you feed a baby”.’