The Department of Health recommends breastfeeding a newborn for the first six months
|
Research suggests that having a caesarean birth does not have an impact upon how long a mother breastfeeds
According to a study published by BMC Paediatrics, 2,000 mothers received breastfeeding support and found little association with how soon after birth the baby was put to the breast.
What did have an impact was ethnicity and the number of previous births, the study reported.
White mothers were 70 per cent more likely to stop than non-white contemporaries.
Professor Mary Renfrew, infant feeding expert said: “ what is really exciting about this research is the rates of breastfeeding – both exclusive and mixed – that have been achieved among all groups.”
The Department of Health recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life, but the majority of UK mothers have abandoned it altogether by this point – giving the country one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe.
There have been a series of measures aimed at increasing prevalence, from better support to a ban on any promotion of infant milks.
| 
Win a box of Jelly Belly beans!