Press release

Indicators on breastfeeding and smoking – Quarter ending September 2011

Quarterly breastfeeding data were released today by the Department of Health

• From: Department of Health and Social Care
• Published: 15 December 2011

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

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

The key points from the latest release are:

• The breastfeeding initiation rate was 74.1% in 2011/12 Quarter 2, a slight improvement on 2010/11 outturn (73.7% ), 2009/10 outturn (72.7%) and 2008/09 outturn (71.7%).
• The prevalence of breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks in 2011/12 Quarter 2 was 47.1% of all infants due a 6-8 weeks check, slightly higher than the figure of 46.5% recorded in 2010/11 Q2.
• The percentage of mothers smoking at delivery in England was 13.1% in 2011/12 Quarter 2, lower than the 2010/11 outturn (13.5%), 2009/10 outturn (14.1%) and 2008/09 outturn (14.4%).

Full tables are available via the Department of Health Website.

Published 15 December 2011