Breastfeeding aversion linked to town's high gastroenteritis rate (From Winsford Guardian)

Breastfeeding aversion linked to town's high gastroenteritis rate

9:30am Saturday 7th March 2009 in News By Frances Kindon

AN aversion to breastfeeding could be causing Winsford’s high gastroenteritis rate according to new research.

Central and Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust (CECPCT) revealed a link between being breastfed as a baby and your chances of developing gastro-intestinal infections in later life.

Worryingly, just 50.2 per cent of the town’s mothers breastfeed, compared to the trust’s average of 61 per cent, with admission rates for gastroenteritis 41 per cent higher than across CECPCT.

That means that the average number of admissions per year across three years from 2004 to 2007 in Winsford was 53, compared with just seven in Alsager and seven in Poynton.

Now the trust has been awarded £100,000 by the Department of Health to promote breastfeeding in areas with a higher than average infant death rate, which includes Winsford.

Project lead Jane Branson said: “Breastfeeding in public is not always considered acceptable and breastfeeding mothers do experience difficulties in some situations.

“This project aims to raise awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding and the needs of mothers when outside the home to feed their babies. We hope to give mother and baby the best start in life.”

“Just as important though is to challenge the negative and disapproving public attitudes sometimes faced by mothers’ breast feeding in public. We want the general public to have a better understanding of the needs of breastfeeding mothers to create a more supportive environment for mothers.”

The trust says breastfeeding can make a big contribution to the future health of a baby, with evidence that it also reduces the risk of chest infections, childhood diabetes, obesity, eczema and asthma, as well cutting the risk of ovarian and breast cancer and weak bones in the the mother.