Breastfeeding Friend from Start4Life This week is Breastfeeding Celebration Week between 21st - 27th June 2021. Breastfeeding provides all the nutrition a baby needs for the first six months and also helps build a strong emotional bond between a mum and her baby. Breast milk also helps boost a baby’s ability to fight illness and infection by passing on the mother’s immune defences.

Babies who are not breastfed are more likely to get diarrhoea and respiratory infections.It is not uncommon for mums to experience challenges with breastfeeding and these problems can often be unanticipated, meaning that when they occur mums can tend to give up and instead switch to formula feeding. Breastfeeding rates suggest that just 44% of mothers are still breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks. Breastfeeding is something that a mother and her baby learn together, and getting the right support can help enable mums to breastfeed for longer.

A healthy future is set up in your baby's first years. But with so much information out there, you could feel a little overwhelmed. So, Start4life has put the latest news on baby nutrition and activity together on their website.

Visit www.nhs.uk/start4life

#BreastfeedingCelebrationWeek