With Amy Brown, Professor of Public Health, Policy and Social Sciences at Swansea University
Despite a strong intention to breastfeed, many women in the UK stop breastfeeding in the early days and weeks, often before they are ready.
The reasons for this are complex but centre around a society where although breastfeeding is promoted, often breastfeeding isn’t protected. Instead, women who want to breastfeed meet a series of barriers stopping them from doing so.
From a lack of detailed antenatal education, to disinvestment in health services, and a culture that does not understand the importance of breastfeeding.
Yet still too much focus is placed on educating individual pregnant women rather than changing the environment they will be breastfeeding in.
This talk will examine what we can change at a systems level, to empower and protect women to breastfeed for longer.