Breastfeeding

This topic area covers statistics and information relating to breastfeeding in Hull including local strategic need and service provision.

This page contains information from the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips. Information is taken ‘live’ from the site so uses the latest available data from Fingertips and displays it on this page. As a result, some comments on this page may relate to an earlier period of time until this page is next updated (see review dates at the end of this page).

Headlines

• There are many benefits both to baby and mother in relation to breastfeeding.
• There are many costs savings associated with breastfeeding both to the family through not buying formula milk and to the NHS through fewer cases and admissions of otitis media, gastroenteritis and asthma.
• In 2018/19, just over half of babies received a first feed of breast milk (51.8%) although rates were lower than in England (67.4%).
• In 2021/22, just over one-third (34.2%) of babies were being totally or partially breast fed in Hull at their 6-8 weeks review which was considerably lower than England (49.3%).
• Breastfeeding rates at 6-8 weeks have increased in Hull over the last four years from 30.1% in 2015/16 to 34.8% in 2020/21 although fell slightly to 34.2% in 2021/22. There has also been a similar increase across England over the same time period except there had been an increase in England between 2020/21 and 2021/22.

The Population Affected – Why Is It Important?

The NHS gives the benefits of breastfeeding:

• breast milk is perfectly designed for a mother’s baby;
• breast milk protects babies from infections and diseases;
• breastfeeding provides health benefits for the mother;
• breast milk is available for a baby whenever a baby needs it; and
• breastfeeding can build a strong emotional bond between mother and baby.

Formula milk does not provide the same protection from illness and does not give the mother with the same health benefits. Furthermore, breastfeeding has long-term benefits for a baby, lasting right into adulthood. The NHS also state that any amount of breast milk has a positive effect, and that the longer a mother breastfeeds her baby, the longer the protection lasts and the greater the benefits.

Breastfeeding can help to reduce a baby’s risk of:

• infections, with fewer visits to hospital as a result;
• diarrhoea and vomiting, with fewer visits to hospital as a result;
• sudden infant death syndrome;
• obesity; and
• cardiovascular disease in adulthood.

Giving nothing but breast milk is recommended for about the first 6 months (26 weeks) of a baby’s life. After that, giving breast milk alongside solid foods for as long as a mother and baby wants helps a baby grow and develop healthily. Breast milk adapts as a baby grows to meet the baby’s changing needs.

Breastfeeding and making breast milk also has health benefits for the mother. The more a mother breastfeeds, the greater the benefits. Breastfeeding lowers the mother’s risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and obesity.

Furthermore, breastfeeding also is considerably cheaper as it avoids the need to buy infant formula milk.

Nationally, if all babies were breastfed, it is estimated that £35 million each year could be saved by the NHS due to treating gastroenteritis alone.  Even if breastfeeding prevalence at 6 months was increased by 10%, it is estimated that the NHS could save at least £5.6 million over 4-5 years due to the prevention of cases of otitis media, gastroenteritis and asthma.  The cost savings in Hull from these three conditions is estimated to be £33,945 per year (although not all savings will be realised in the first year).

However, whilst breastfeeding is the healthiest and most natural way to feed a baby, it does not mean it is always straightforward. Babies are all different: some will feed frequently and settle afterwards, some will feed most of the time, and others may be sleepy and need reminding to feed. Breastfeeding support may be required and there is specialist help for those who need it.

The Hull Picture

From The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips, the percentage of babies whose first feed was breast milk was considerably lower in 2018/19 in Hull compared to England (51.8% versus 67.4%).

The percentage of babies who were being breastfed totally or partially at their 6-8 week review was also lower in Hull compared to England in 2021/22 with just over one-third of babies breastfed in Hull (34.2%) compared to almost a half of babies across England (49.3%).

Further more detailed information is available from the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities annual breastfeeding data file. In Hull for 2021/22, there were 3,503 infants were due their 6-8 week review and 3,420 (97.6%) infants had their breastfeeding status known. Overall, 1,199 (34.2%) were totally or partially breastfed with 790 (22.6%) totally breastfed (not having any formula milk, any other liquids or food), 409 (11.7%) partially breastfed, and 2,221 (63.4%) who were not breastfed at all. Across England, 90.8% of babies had their breastfeeding status known in 2021/22, of which 32.7% were totally breastfed, 16.6% partially breastfed and 41.4% not breastfed at all.

Breastfeeding rates at 6-8 weeks have increased in Hull over the last four years from 30.1% in 2015/16 to 34.8% in 2020/21, although there has been a slight fall between 2020/21 and 2021/22 to 34.2%. The pattern has been similar for England although the percentage breastfeeding increased in the last year.

Strategic Need and Service Provision

The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence has guidance to support breastfeeding with specific points around the following areas:

• a supportive environment for breastfeeding;
• starting successful breastfeeding;
• continuing successful breastfeeding;
• assessing successful breastfeeding;
• expression and storage of breast milk; and
• preventing, identifying and treating breastfeeding concerns.

It is necessary to encourage as many women to breastfeed their babies as possible by explaining the advantages, and by offering advice and support, both prenatally and post-natal. This involves providing quality information, implementing a structured programme of activity using the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative as a minimum, training healthcare and support staff to be confident and competent to support breastfeeding mothers, and supporting all mothers and increasing their confidence to breastfeed. Birth preparation and parent education services provide antenatal education and supports improving breastfeeding rates. Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is already a Unicef Baby Friendly Accredited Hospital.

In 2016 the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) launched new Achieving Sustainability standards. Services that are currently accredited as Baby Friendly will be eligible to be assessed against these standards at their next scheduled re-assessment. If the service meets all of the criteria, they will then be accredited as a Gold Baby Friendly service.

Services that are fully accredited as Baby Friendly can consider going for Gold. The Award is designed as the next step for accredited services whose audit results consistently show that the Baby Friendly standards are largely being met. The Gold assessment can be carried out following the next planned re-assessment.

Working towards the Gold Award acts as an incentive for services to properly embed the Achieving Sustainability standards and so consolidate and protect all the hard work that has gone into achieving Baby Friendly accreditation. This will mean that future generations of babies, their mothers and families will still continue to experience Baby Friendly standards of care. The Award will be a recognition that the service is not only implementing the Baby Friendly Initiative standards, but that they also have the leadership, culture and systems to maintain this over the long term.

As the largest decrease in breastfeeding occurs within the first ten days and the first Health Visitor contact is at 14 days, local Health Visitors are working to promote the peer supporter service locally to help mothers to continue to breastfeed prior to the first Health Visitor appointment. There is an expectation that the peer support service will support breastfeeding mothers following referral from midwifery between the discharge from hospital and the first health visitor contact to try to help mothers to continue breastfeeding at a time when they might be thinking about stopping.

In a recent audit, it was found that one of the highest reasons women decided to stop breastfeeding was due to having to return to work. Women returning to work should be supported to continue to breastfeed through policies which are designed to support women returning to work whilst breastfeeding.

The resource to support breastfeeding should be increased and targeted to the areas with lowest initial rates. In order to increase the rates of breastfeeding, social norms need to be changed so that women feel more comfortable breastfeeding. Progress has been made in this areas, but this needs to continue.

Resources

NHS. Benefits of breastfeeding. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/benefits-breastfeeding/

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities. Breastfeeding at 6 to 8 weeks after birth: annual data for 2021/22. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/breastfeeding-at-6-to-8-weeks-after-birth-annual-data-2021-to-2022

National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence guidance: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg37/chapter/1-Recommendations#infant-feeding

Updates

This page was last updated / checked on 13 February 2023.

This page is due to be updated / checked in November 2023.