Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly in Britain Scaling up Breastfeeding in Wales, Scotland and England

Abstract

The UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world; 80% of babies are breastfed at birth, only 1% are exclusively breastfed by 6 months. Breastfeeding rates are lower among women in areas of higher deprivation, exacerbating health inequalities. The Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly toolkit was developed through highly structured technical and academic collaboration, led by Yale University. It has been piloted in Mexico and Ghana. In the short term, it provides an evidence-based tool to guide countries in assessing their breastfeeding status, and their readiness to scale up; and in the long term, it supports countries to identify the concrete measures they can take to sustainably increase breastfeeding rates, based on data-driven recommendations. Launching BBF GB, breastfeeding experts from Scotland, Wales and England attended the first GB Engagement Committee in December 2017, agreeing to deliver BBF separately in each country to reflect structural and cultural variation. The CHSS team is now supporting three locally developed Country Committees of experts in Scotland, Wales and England to carry out the 5 step meeting process