The first two years of a baby’s life are very important.
Eating the right foods during this time helps babies stay healthy and strong and impacts their future health into adulthood.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF say that parents should start breastfeeding their babies within one hour after they are born.
For the first six months, babies should only have breast milk (known as “exclusive breastfeeding”).
After six months, babies can start eating solid foods, but they should also have breast milk too, until they are at least two years old.
Local services
Find out more about local services contributing to supporting infant feeding. Local businesses and venues can sign up for the Brestfeeding Welcome Scheme.
Infant feeding is an essential area of Public Health
Key facts about infant feeding
- Breastfeeding infants protects them against infection, skin conditions, asthma, obesity, diabetes, heart disease and sudden infant death syndrome, whilst breastfeeding reduces the chances of the mother developing breast and ovarian cancers, heart disease, and obesity.
- Beyond impacts on health, breastfeeding supports the mother-baby relationship, is better for the environment than using formula and saves a lot of money for families and communities.
Infant feeding is an area of Public Health focus in Havering
Helping families to breastfeed and therefore increasing the number of babies who are breastfed gives more babies the best start in life.
Some groups of people in the UK are less likely to breastfeed.
These groups include:
- White British women – important in Havering because 66.5 percent of the population is White British
- women living in more deprived areas
- teenage pregnant women
- women who have never breastfed before, so it’s important to teach and support them about breastfeeding before their baby is born
What we do in Havering
Public Health works closely with local services in the Havering Infant Feeding Steering Group (HIFSG) to make sure all families have access to infant feeding support across the borough.
The HIFSG works together to support local priorities, including the infant feeding actions in the Havering Healthy Weight Strategy’s action plan.
Key initiatives
- Promote local support services (e.g. Infant Feeding Cafés at Children Centres and peer support groups by LatchOn Havering).
- Promote the Breastfeeding Welcome Scheme which shows places where parents can breastfeed comfortably.
- Promote the NHS Healthy Start scheme to increase uptake – the scheme helps pregnant women and parents of young children buy healthy food and milk and get free vitamins.
- Helping local services (like Children Centres, NELFT Health Visiting Service, and BHRUT) to get full UNICEF Baby Friendly accreditation. This means giving parents the best care to build close and loving relationships with their baby and to feed their baby in the best way for their health and growth.
How you can make a change
Members of the public can:
- support parents to choose to breastfeed their children
- visit the national Healthy Start scheme website to learn more about the scheme
- tell people about local services that help with infant feeding.
Professionals working in the area can:
- support parents to choose to breastfeed their children.
- guide residents to local services to access support for infant feeding.
- promote the Breastfeeding Welcome Scheme and encourage places to join.