Sue Miller argues that breastfeeding rates in the UK are still dismal, and that 35 years of breastfeeding campaigning have been undermined by politicians and formula companies (Letters, 13 February). Miller cites a government spokesperson who told her in 2010 that “data in the Lancet shows that 0.5% of babies in the UK are being breastfed up to one year”. Is this figure reliable? The Lancet article referred to is “Breastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect”, published in 2016 by Cesar G Victora et al. The authors compiled existing sources to produce estimates for all countries in the world.
In the case of the UK, they used the 2010 NHS Infant Feeding Survey, which had a 35% response rate and only collected data up to six months, to produce a statistical estimate of infants breastfed at 12 months. It is unclear how they extrapolated 0.5% from the six months rate, which was 34% in 2010. In conclusion, the 0.5% figure Miller relies on is a statistical artefact based on data that is more than 10 years old, from a survey with a poor response rate. If anything, the data presented by the Infant Feeding Surveys suggests that breastfeeding rates have been going up in the UK. In 2000, 24% of babies were breastfed at six months, but in 2010 this figure was up to 34%.
As a group of parents that advocates for an approach to infant feeding that serves the needs of individual families, we are more interested in understanding whether 35 years of breastfeeding advocacy has improved the physical and mental health of babies and their parents. The data is not available, but we have reasons to doubt it.
Dr Giulia Piccolino
Infant Feeding Alliance
