Unique Child: Health & Nutrition - In comfort
Public Health England
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Public Health England is stepping up its campaign to make breastfeeding in public more acceptable, with a collection of animated short films
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.
To raise awareness of the issues, Start4Life has released these findings alongside new animated short films sharing real-life experiences of mothers breastfeeding in public, to help break down barriers and help normalise the behaviour.
TIPS AND ADVICE
Breastfeeding benefits both mother and child – from helping to protect the child from infection and disease to reducing mothers’ risk of getting breast and ovarian cancer. However, while 74 per cent of women start breastfeeding their children from birth, only 47 per cent are still doing so six to eight weeks later.
To help women, the Start4Life campaign offers tips from mums and experts on breastfeeding, as well as additional information and links to resources. The videos are available on the Start4Life Facebook page.
Other Start4Life information includes tips from midwives on the signs that show babies are feeding well and advice for partners. The campaign also encourages parents to sign up to Start4Life’s Information Service for Parents – a weekly email service about NHS-approved information and advice.
