At UHSM our staff will always happily discuss the feeding options available to mothers and work to promote the benefits of breast feeding.

As part of National Breast Feeding Awareness Week, a team of UHSM midwives, health visitors, health care assistant workers, nursery nurses and breast feeding peer support counsellors manned a stall every day at The Trafford Centre in Manchester. Here, they handed out free gifts and information and spoke to new and expectant mums about their options. The stall proved incredibly popular and feedback from stall visitors was very positive.

The Department of Health recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life and can continue to benefit your baby along with solid foods for many months after. Breast milk gives babies all the nutrients they need and helps protect them from infection and diseases. Research also shows it reduces mothers' chances of getting certain diseases later in life.

The benefits of BF for babies include, amongst others:

• Reduced risk of gastroenteritis
• Reduced risk of respiratory tract infections and wheeze
• Reduced incidence of middle ear infections
• Reduced incidence of urinary tract infections
• Reduced incidence of obesity, high blood pressure and juvenile onset diabetes in childhood
• Increased IQ levels by 7 points
• Reduced risk of allergic disorders such as eczema & asthma.

The benefits of BF for mothers include, amongst many others:

• Reduced risk of Breast Cancer
• Reduced risk of Ovarian Cancer
• Reduced risk of Osteoporosis and hip fractures in the over 65s
• Helping to lose the weight gained in pregnancy if BF continues for at least 6 months.

UHSM has also just achieved the Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) Stage 2 Assessment. BFI award is an international, prestigious award set up jointly by the World Health Organisation and UNICEF in order to improve the health of babies throughout the world. The award looks at policies, staff training, patient information, teaching skills and much more. For more information go to: www.babyfriendly.org.uk.