British mums' breastfeeding rates are the worst in world: Just one in every 200 babies is breastfed until the age of 12 months.

Rates of breastfeeding in Britain are the lowest in the world, a major study reveals.
Only one in every 200 children here – just 0.5 per cent – is breastfed until the age of 12 months, placing us bottom of a global league table published in The Lancet medical journal last night.

By comparison, 27 per cent in the US, 35 per cent in Norway, 44 per cent in New Zealand and 92 per cent in India are breastfed until they are one year old.

The study, led by experts from the World Health Organisation and Unicef, said that child obesity, diabetes and infections could all be significantly reduced if more mothers could be persuaded to breastfeed.

Women themselves would also benefit, with breast cancer rates reduced among those who had breastfed their children. It is also said to make it easier for mothers to regain their pre-pregnancy figure.

The NHS suggests that women should feed their babies exclusively with breast milk until they are at least six months old, and then continue breastfeeding while gradually introducing other food.

Women are advised by the NHS: ‘The longer you breastfeed, the longer the protection lasts and the greater the benefits.’

Some 80 per cent of British mothers breastfeed at some point. But it seems most turn to formula very early in their child’s life.

According to the Lancet study, only 34 per cent of British children are breastfed until six months, compared to 49 per cent in the US, 50 per cent in Germany and 62 per cent in Switzerland.

In many developing nations, including India, Ghana and Bhutan, rates of breastfeeding exceed 95 per cent at six months and 90 per cent at 12 months.

The NHS suggests that women should feed their babies exclusively with breast milk until they are at least six months old, and then continue breastfeeding while gradually introducing other food.

The researchers wrote: ‘In the UK, the milk formula market is the 11th largest in the world and growing, with sales projected to reach $907million (£631million) in 2019.’ They estimated that breastfeeding in high-income countries such as Britain reduces the risk of sudden infant deaths by more than a third. It also may increase intelligence, they said.

The research team estimates that 800,000 children’s lives around the world could be saved each year if breastfeeding levels could be raised to ‘near-universal’ levels.

An extra 20,000 women’s deaths from breast cancer could also be saved, they found.

The team did not break down their life-saving predictions for individual countries.
But separate recent research by Unicef UK estimated that if breastfeeding rates in Britain were to double, 865 breast cancer cases would be averted each year, saving the NHS £21million.

Dr Martin Ward-Platt, consultant paediatrician at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne, said: ‘We have to go back to the 1960s to see high rates of breastfeeding across the country. There was a huge cultural change after the Second World War, when it was thought to be modern, scientific and desirable to use formula feed instead.’

Professor Russell Viner, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: ‘The benefits of breastfeeding have been widely publicised yet it’s clear that efforts are still falling far too short and the grave reality is that this is costing children’s lives.’

Professor Viv Bennett, chief nurse at Public Health England, said: ‘There is strong evidence which tells us that breastfeeding provides benefits for babies.

‘We recognise however that not all mothers choose, or are able, to breastfeed and infant formula is the only alternative to breast milk for babies under 12 months old.’