Breastfeeding more common for first time as Scottish Government’s most progressive and well-funded promotion programme in the UK pays-off

Professor John Robertson OBA From Infant feeding statistics Financial year 2024 to 2025, published today, the above momentous graph and: Supporting breastfeeding is an important public health activity, with strong evidence that breastfeeding protects the health of children and mothers. The information is collected at Health Visitor reviews of children at 10-14 days (First Visit), 6-8 weeks, and 13-15 months of age. Main points There have been notable increases in breastfeeding – 69% of babies reviewed in Scotland in 2024/25 were breastfed for at least some time after their birth, compared with 63% in 2016/17. In 2024/25, and for the first time … Continue reading Breastfeeding more common for first time as Scottish Government’s most progressive and well-funded promotion programme in the UK pays-off

SNP Government programme to protect the health of children and mothers leads to significant increases in all groups

From Infant Feeding Statistics Scotland Financial Year 2023/24 An Accredited official statistics release for Scotland published on 12 November 2024, we can see that breastfeeding has almost doubled since 2007/2008 for the least deprived group but has increased significantly for all groups. The rationale for this scheme is clear: Breastfeeding provides the best nutrition for babies and young children and supports children’s health both in the short and longer term(1,2). There is strong evidence that breastfeeding reduces children’s risk of gut, chest, and ear infections and leads to a small but significant improvement in brain development and IQ(3,4). Growing evidence … Continue reading SNP Government programme to protect the health of children and mothers leads to significant increases in all groups