Press release

Indicators on breastfeeding

The following statistics were released today by the Department of Health.

• From: Department of Health and Social Care
• Published: 30 August 2012

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Quarter ending June 2012

The key points from the latest release are:

• The breastfeeding initiation rate was 74.0% in 2012/13 Quarter 1, which is the same as the annual percentage for 2011/12 and slightly higher than 2010/11 (73.7% ), 2009/10 (72.8%) and 2008/09 (71.7%).
• The prevalence of breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks in 2012/13 Quarter 1 was 46.9% of all infants due a 6-8 weeks check, which is slightly higher than the figure of 46.3% recorded in 2011/12 Q1.  Comparisons are made with the same quarter in preceding years due to seasonality.

Full tables are available on the Department of Health website

Published 30 August 2012