Nottinghamshire County Council is reminding new and expectant mothers of the benefits that breastfeeding has for their baby, and of the extra help that is available to help support mums who need it.

World Breastfeeding Week is running this week, and the council is using the awareness week to promote the benefits of breastfeeding over formula in terms of both short and long term health advantages for babies, and for mothers.

Breast milk benefits include:

• Breastfeeding protects your baby from infections and diseases
• Reduces the risk of diarrohea and vomiting
• Fewer chest and ear infections
• Less chance of your baby being constipated
• Less chance of your child being obese in later life.

Mums who need support breastfeeding can access a peer support service where other mums who breastfed their own children are on hand to offer help and advice one-to-one, by telephone or with home visits.

There are support services in Nottingham North and East (Hucknall / Arnold / Carlton), and Mansfield and Ashfield, with similar services being rolled out shortly in Newark, Sherwood and Broxtowe.

To find contact details for local grousp contact midwives, health visitors or children’s centres.

The council works with Clinical Commissioning Groups to commission breastfeeding peer support services to raise the number of mums that initiate and maintain breastfeeding. Currently rates in Notts are lower than the national average, 69.7% of mums start breastfeeding in Nottinghamshire compared to 73.9% nationally.

Coun Joyce Bosnjak, chairman of the Nottinghamshire Health and Wellbeing Board said: “World Breastfeeding Week is a great opportunity to highlight once again the many benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and baby. We know it’s not always easy though, which is why there’s support available from other mums that have breastfed their own baby’s and know what it’s like.

“All the evidence shows that giving babies a healthy start by breastfeeding leads to better outcomes in later life especially in terms of avoiding obesity and diabetes in adulthood. I urge any new mum to give it a go.”

Other places for support or advice include:
• NCT: www.nct.org.uk
• Breastfeeding Network: www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk