Press release

Statistical press notice: Indicators on breastfeeding – quarter ending March 2012

The following statistics were released today by the Department of Health: Indicators on breastfeeding - quarter ending March 2012 The key …

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:

Indicators on breastfeeding - quarter ending March 2012

The key points from the latest release are:

  • The breastfeeding initiation rate was 74.0% in 2011/12, a slight improvement on 2010/11 (73.7% ), 2009/10 (72.8%) and 2008/09 (71.7%).
  • The prevalence of breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks in 2011/12 Quarter 4 was 46.9% of all infants due a 6-8 weeks check, slightly higher than the figure of 45.3% recorded in 2010/11 Q4. Comparisons are made with the same quarter in preceding years due to seasonality

Full tables

Published 24 May 2012