Legal Rights For Workbreaks For Breast Feeding Mums Discussed

Proposals to give women the legal right to breastfeed in public and take work breaks to express milk for their infants will be put before health ministers this week.

The guidelines, drawn up by a coalition of leading support groups including the Royal College of Midwives and the National Childbirth Trust, will urge businesses to provide facilities for breastfeeding mothers and call on ministers to consider making it an offence to bar women from breastfeeding in restaurants, shops and elsewhere, such as on public transport.

The move follows concern over statistics that reveal only one fifth of British women breastfeed their babies for the full six months recommended by the government and the World Health Organisation.

Research shows that breastfed babies are less likely to suffer poor health from infections and allergies and have a reduced risk of developing diabetes. Breastfeeding also reduces a woman's risk of developing breast cancer later in life.

Other European countries have introduced measures allowing women to take breaks during the working day to express milk, so that it can be fed to their babies the following day by childminders or nursery staff. In France, women with a child under 12 months are entitled to two half hour breaks a day. Legislation making it an offence to stop a woman breastfeeding in public was passed in Scotland in 2004.

Meanwhile the government's initiative National Breastfeeding Awareness Week, which ran this month, aims to support health professionals in promoting the benefits of breastfeeding for babies and their mums. For the first time this included TV ad campaigns encouraging younger women to breastfeed their babies.

The government will also publish a new joint NHS and UNICEF information leaflet for new mums giving them practical information and tips on how to breastfeed successfully.

According to the latest statistics published at the start of National Breastfeeding Awareness Week, more mums are starting to breastfeed with breastfeeding rates at their highest level in England in decades.

More than three quarters (78 per cent) of new mums in England start breastfeeding when their baby is born, according to the Infant Feeding Survey published by the Information Centre today.  However, younger women and those in more disadvantaged communities are still less likely to breastfeed their babies. And the numbers of women breastfeeding also drops off despite the recommendation that babies are breastfed for their first six months.

Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said:

"All the evidence shows that ‘nothing is fitter than a breastfed nipper’. We’ve made good progress over the last 30 years encouraging more and more women to breastfeed. However, we cannot be complacent. There are communities where breastfeeding rates remain low adding to the health inequalities gap. We need to do more to close this and to ensure that babies receive the best form of nutrition and to give them the best start in life. We have set a target to increase breastfeeding initiation rates by two per cent year on year, in particular targeting women in these disadvantaged groups.  Our new ad campaign targets younger women especially, telling them that breastfeeding is the norm, it's natural and provides all the nutrition that babies need in their first six months.

"Our annual National Breastfeeding Awareness Week is a great focus for these efforts and we hope it helps even more women to think about breastfeeding this year.

"In the longer term we are also planning to work more closely with retailers and other organisations to encourage breastfeeding in their establishments making them 'breastfeeding friendly'. "

Breastfeeding is becoming the norm and those who don’t think that breastfeeding is acceptable in public are now the minority - only 23 per cent say that they don’t agree with it. Meanwhile, 74 per cent of women now realise that it’s the best option for a baby’s health and a further 78 per cent of respondents said breastfeeding is just a normal part of everyday life, according to the Infant Feeding Survey 2005.

Ginder Narle, Infant Feeding Best Practice Manager, at the Department of Health, said:

"Levels of breastfeeding in England have increased over the last few years, but we need to do more to encourage mothers to breastfeed for longer focusing particularly on younger mothers from disadvantaged groups.  We’ve listened to requests for more support and are delivering the biggest drive yet to normalise and popularise breastfeeding and raise awareness about its very real benefits.

"Health professionals should visit the NHS breastfeeding website where they will be able to obtain resources on breastfeeding and advice on how to run events in their local communities."

Sue Ashmore, Director of UNICEF's Baby Friendly Initiative, said:

"We are delighted to work in partnership with the Department of Health and support its efforts to promote and sustain breastfeeding through providing information and implementing best practice. Our joint efforts will help the NHS to work towards the principles of the Baby Friendly Initiative which have proved successful in increasing breastfeeding rates."

To mark this year's National Breastfeeding Awareness week, a range of resources has been launched to support health professionals to promote breastfeeding along with advice on how to run events in their local communities.

This year's breastfeeding awareness campaign is being fronted by celebrity mums, including model Nell McAndrew.

Commenting on her involvement in the campaign, Nell McAndrew said:

"I’m here to tell other mums just like me that breastfeeding has so many benefits.  I’m like any new mum. I’m finding my feet with motherhood but I just want the best for my baby - and for me that’s breastfeeding. It’s got so many enormous health benefits that just can’t be found anywhere else. And its other big bonus for me is the fact that it’s convenient, hassle-free and fits into my everyday life."

Source: Guardian On-Line, GNN press release

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