More mothers breastfeeding

There has been a large increase in the number of breastfed babies, both straight after birth and at discharge from hospital, official figures show. In the first quarter of this year, 47 per cent of babies were breastfed within 30 minutes of birth,...

There has been a large increase in the number of breastfed babies, both straight after birth and at discharge from hospital, official figures show.

In the first quarter of this year, 47 per cent of babies were breastfed within 30 minutes of birth, compared to 27 per cent in the same period last year, according to the National Obstetrics Report released last week.

Infant feeding habits are also recorded by hospital staff at the time of discharge. These showed that 513 infants were purely breastfed, compared with 355 in the same period in 2002. There were 323 bottle-fed babies compared with 423 the previous year, while 93 babies got both breast and bottle feeding, compared with 126 the previous year.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.