{"id":574277,"date":"2025-11-16T14:30:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T14:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/574277\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T14:30:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T14:30:33","slug":"breastfeeding-rates-in-london-improve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/574277\/","title":{"rendered":"Breastfeeding rates in London improve"},"content":{"rendered":"

New figures show 66% of infants in London were being breastfed at least some of the time show Adam Care, Data Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"CloseNationally, the prevalence of breastfeeding increased to 56% in 2024, from 53% in 2023 \u2013 (Credit \u2013 Radar)<\/p>\n

The proportion of infants in London who were breastfed at least some of the time last year has increased, new figures suggest.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, breastfeeding rates across England hit a record high.<\/p>\n

The National Childbirth Trust said parents need better access to impartial advice and support, to help them make the best decisions for their newborns.<\/p>\n

It comes ahead of Baby Week, a national event designed to raise awareness about the importance of early childhood and make the UK the best place to grow up in.<\/p>\n

New figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities<\/a> show 66% of infants in London were being breastfed at least some of the time, as of their six-to-eight-week health visitor review last year.<\/p>\n

This was greater than the 59% recorded a year earlier.<\/p>\n

Nationally, the prevalence of breastfeeding increased to 56% in 2024, from 53% in 2023. This was the highest figure reported since 2015, when records began.<\/p>\n

Current government advice is that infants should be exclusively breastfed, receiving only breastmilk for their first six months.<\/p>\n

Louise Oliver, breastfeeding counsellor and head of inclusion and engagement at the NCT, said: \u201cAlmost half of women and birthing people in the UK end their breastfeeding journey before they want to.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith only 1% exclusively breastfeeding at six months, the UK continues to have one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The data shows 37% of the 90,476 infants in London were totally breastfed, 30% were partially breastfed, and 18% were not breastfed at all.<\/p>\n

The figures are based on the reported findings from health visitors<\/a>, but OHID warns they may not be completely accurate.<\/p>\n

Breastfeeding rates differed greatly across England<\/a>, ranging from 32% in Blackpool to 83% in Windsor and Maidenhead.<\/p>\n

Oliver said: \u201cWe know that deprivation is linked to poorer outcomes for parents and babies, making effective feeding support even more important in these communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must actively listen to parents to understand how they can be better supported.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen parents are supported to breastfeed or provide breastmilk for as long as they wish, it can help to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Separate figures, also released this month, show the proportion of successful six-to-eight-week health visitor reviews across England also increased, from 82% to 85%.<\/p>\n

In London, health visitors attended to 83% of infants within this period.<\/p>\n

Catherine Hine, chief executive of the Breastfeeding Network, said the figures were \u201creally encouraging\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cProgress like this shows that when families get good information and practical support early on, they can feed their babies in the way they want to,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge now is to make sure every family who needs it can access independent, evidence-based support\u00a0\u2013\u00a0regardless of where they live, their background, or their circumstances\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and to ensure that parents get clear, accurate information free from commercial influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kate Brintworth, chief midwifery officer for England, said: \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to see that more new mums than ever are being supported by the NHS to breastfeed their babies.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a midwife, I know that breastfeeding has lots of benefits for mums and babies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also know that breastfeeding can take time to get the hang of, so I want to encourage all mums who want to breastfeed to speak to their midwives and health visitors for advice whenever they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the Government was \u201cworking to improve regional disparities on breastfeeding across the country\u201d.<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cWe have extended the 24-hour National Breastfeeding Helpline and are investing \u00a318.5 million in 2025-26 through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme to improve infant feeding services and provide support with breastfeeding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NCT Infant Feeding Line provides inclusive and free to access feeding support to parents, every day from 8am to midnight, via 0300 330 0700.<\/p>\n

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More Information about donations<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New figures show 66% of infants in London were being breastfed at least some of the time show…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[2420,590,748,393,4884,105,257,211,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-574277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-parenting","9":"tag-babies","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-nhs","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115559860606951710","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}