This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Breast is best
09/05/2005
Mothers are being urged to consider breastfeeding to
help counteract health problems, as new figures show little
change in the number of breastfed babies across the
country.
Deputy Health Minister Rhona Brankin said more Scottish
babies need to get the health benefits of
breastfeeding.
She said:
"It is important that every child in Scotland gets the
best start in life and breastfeeding protects babies from a
host of potential health problems.
"Mothers too can reap the health benefits as well as the
unique intimate bonding this gives with their babies and as
we are in Breastfeeding Awareness Week it's an appropriate
time to highlight this.
"We are doing a great deal to support mothers and
increase uptake particularly in our more deprived
communities where they tend to be lowest.
"The Scottish Parliament recently passed the
Breastfeeding Act which will give more Mums confidence to
feed their children in public and NHS Health Scotland has
carried out TV advertising to raise awareness of the
benefits.
"A further range of measures aimed at educating and
further raising awareness are also underway. But it is
going to take time to change the culture around this
issue.
"Today's figures show that some with high levels of
deprivation such as Glasgow are also improving, and it's in
these areas that we need to concentrate our efforts.
"I am, however, disappointed to see that we're not
making much progress at raising levels of breastfeeding
between six and eight weeks.
"But it's not all bad news of course - Scotland is still
at the forefront of breastfeeding initiatives across the
UK.
"This has been recognised by UNICEF who have awarded
baby-friendly status to many of our maternity units with
more than half of Scottish babies being born in them - more
than any of our UK partners.
"Staff at 'baby-friendly' units are trained on the
skills needed to support successful breastfeeding and
provide consistent advice.
"An Infant Feeding Strategy for Scotland is currently
being developed which will aim to increase rates across the
country."