Improving Maternal and Infant Nutrition: A Framework for Action

Figure 5: Breastfeeding at the 6-8 week Review in Scotland by Year of Birth,2001 to 2009Source: ISD Scotland. Data for 2009 are provisional and are estimated to be around90% complete.3.26 After the 6-8 week review no further data is routinely collected on infantfeeding method in Scotland. Survey data is available from the Infant Feeding Surveyon the proportion of mothers breastfeeding up to the age of nine months. By sixmonths, only 24% of mothers in Scotland were still breastfeeding – around one inthree of the 71% who initiate breastfeeding.Breastfeeding and Deprivation3.27 There is an association between maternal deprivation and breastfeeding(Figure 6). This is seen at birth, the first visit review (when the infant is around tendays old) and the 6-8 week review. In 2009, 67% of mothers in the least deprivedquintiles in Scotland were breastfeeding at the first visit review compared with 30%in the most deprived quintiles. At the 6-8 week review 57% of mothers in the leastdeprived quintiles were breastfeeding compared with 22% of mothers in the mostdeprived quintiles. The gap between the least and most deprived areas narrowedslightly between 2001 and 2009 because rates in the most deprived areas increasedand rates in the least deprived areas were static (Figure 6). Similar trends wereseen with breastfeeding rates at birth and at the first visit review.