No:   L7/052                      For immediate release                            10 May 2007.

STAFFORD’S MP MEETS GORDON BROWN TO DISCUSS BREASTFEEDING

Yesterday (Wednesday) Stafford’s Labour MP David Kidney met Chancellor Gordon Brown in his House of Commons office to discuss breastfeeding. Later this month, David Kidney is taking part in the launch of a “breastfeeding manifesto” and he was updating the Chancellor on this development and others relating to the promotion of higher levels of breastfeeding.
David Kidney says his meeting was very positive:
“Improving breastfeeding rates can make a real difference to the health of babies and their mothers and save the health service millions of pounds every year. For example, NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) estimates that a 10% increase in breastfeeding in England would save the NHS around £5.6 million in the treatment of gastroenteritis, ear infections and asthma in young children.

“I explained this to Gordon and he expressed a strong interest in this issue. He said that he wants to focus on raising levels of breastfeeding in our country to the levels achieved in places that do much better – for example, breastfeeding rates in the Scandinavian countries are over 90%. In the UK, we have raised the rate for starting to breastfeed to around 70% in recent years, but many mothers give up very quickly. This is a challenge we need to address.”

The Breastfeeding Coalition, which has produced the seven-point manifesto,  has already received cross party support from 150 MPs, including Labour’s David Kidney, Liberal Democrat Annette Brooke MP and Conservative Julie Kirkbride MP is calling on all 646 MPs to sign up to the Manifesto.  People are encouraged to pledge their support via the website www.breastfeedingmanifesto.org.uk