Ask the UK Government not to abandon mothers and babies
The UK Department of Health is planning to scrap its Infant Feeding Coordinator posts and its support for National Breastfeeding Awareness Week. Please send a message to the Secretary of State for Health asking him to reverse this decision, not least to save taxpayers money at this time of limited budgets.
Many countries have similar posts as part of their commitment to the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding and the Innocenti Declaration. This work is being stopped in the UK to help cut the country’s budget deficit, but will lead to medium and long-term costs to the health service and growth in health inequalities. The National Health Service spends millions of pounds every year treating some of the extra illness amongst formula fed babies (according to NICE, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence).
The Department of Health was not only promoting and supporting breastfeeding, it was working to help mothers who bottle feed. The Infant Feeding Coordinators have just updated the guide to bottle feeding that Baby Milk Action used the basis for the guidance in the Infant Formula Explained DVD produced with partners in the Baby Feeding Law Group (alongside guidance from the World Health Organisation). The DVD is in line with the updated guidance and suitable for use in UNICEF Baby Friendly accredited facilities.
Please complete the form found on the Baby Milk Action website which will be forwarded to the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley.
