County Council seeks breastfeeding views
Warwickshire County Council and Coventry University’s Health Services Research Centre are joining forces as they seek to gain public views on breastfeeding.
An online survey has been posted asking the public for their views as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Health Scrutiny Review.
Among the questions the survey is asking the public are whether they and their children were breastfed, whether they feel formula milk is as beneficial as breast milk for infants, whether or not mothers benefit from breastfeeding and what their experiences have been as far as breastfeeding in public, or witnessing breastfeeding in public, are concerned.
The advantages of breastfeeding include long and short term health benefits for infant and mother, particularly when the breast feeding is sustained.
However, health specialists are concerned that breastfeeding rates in the UK are among the lowest in Europe and by how the rate drops even further among families on lower incomes.
Professor Louise Wallace, director of the Health Services Research Centre, said: “We have conducted research on what helps and what hinders mothers from breastfeeding. One important issue is whether women have seen anyone breastfeed and, if they haven’t, they are less likely to breastfeed themselves.
“Women who do breastfeed often stop earlier than they wanted to and this is often because they fear they can’t breastfeed when they are out and about with the baby.
“Some mothers have said they are put off breastfeeding in the first place by some people’s attitudes to seeing mothers breastfeed. Some owners of pulic areas such as restaurants are helpful but others say they want to protect their customers from being embarrassed by seeing women breastfeed. We want to see what the public in Warwickshire and Coventry really think.”
Councillor Sarah Boad, Warwickshire County Council’s representative on the review board, said:
“Breastfeeding is a key public issue which has health implications for mother and infant. The more we can learn about the public’s views towards breastfeeding, the better recommendations we can make in a final report.”
Responses to the survey are to be analysed by the Health Services Research Centre at Coventry University. When the results are available, the county council will work with Coventry City Council in reviewing their support for mothers who wish to breastfeed.
The deadline for all responses is 13 March. The survey can be accessed by clicking on the link.