Breastfeeding Conference

Breastfeeding Conference The purpose of today is to: Look at what the evidence is telling us Share good practice Talk about the environment for Breastfeeding Co-create a vision for Breastfeeding in Suffolk Dr Amanda Jones Assistant Director of Public Health Lead Consultant Health Protection & Health Improvement

This Morning The latest Evidence What our peers have achieved in other Counties Suffolk Practitioners and how they work Workshop discussions - what can each of us do to improve the number of mothers who breastfeed in Suffolk ?

Preventing disease and saving resources - the potential contribution of increasing breastfeeding rates Increasing the numbers of women who breastfeed will decrease rates of breast cancer in women and reduce acute and chronic diseases in children. Investment in effective services to increase and sustain breastfeeding rates is likely to provide a return within a few years, possibly as little as one year.

Quantitative models suggest that: Assuming a moderate increase in breastfeeding rates in the UK, if 45% of women exclusively breastfed for four months, and if 75% of babies in neonatal units were breastfed at discharge, each year there would be: 3,285 fewer gastrointestinal infection-related hospital admissions 5,916 fewer lower respiratory tract infection-related hospital admissions 21,045 fewer acute otitis media (AOM) related GP consultations Potential cost saving to the NHS through these plus other conditions that could be decreased by breast feeding would be £40million each year

In the UK if half those mothers who currently do not breastfeed were to breastfeed for up to 18 months in their lifetime, there could be: 865 fewer breast cancer cases with cost savings to the health service of over £21 million

What our peer Benchmark Counties have achieved Q4 Data 2012/13