Start4Life, Public Health England’s parenting advice service, launched a month-long campaign in November to encourage more women to breastfeed, and for longer. To achieve this, the campaign aims to tackle the common barrier of mothers’ reluctance to breastfeed in public.
A poll conducted as part of the campaign shows that almost three-quarters (72 per cent) of people are supportive of public breastfeeding. Yet more than a third of breastfeeding mothers shy away from doing so in public, with one in five (21 per cent) feeling people are not supportive and would rather not see them breastfeeding.
It is illegal to ask a breastfeeding woman to leave a public place, yet six out of ten mothers who breastfeed take steps to hide it in public and more than a third (34 per cent) feel embarrassed or uncomfortable.
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