ABSTRACT
Breastfeeding is much more common among women from least-deprived areas, those educated over the age of 18, those in ethnic minorities, those aged over 30 and women in England rather than other parts of the United Kingdom. Increasingly, the proportion of women breastfeeding has been identified as a high priority for the government in their White Paper ‘Our Healthier Nation’. Although a physiological process, breastfeeding is an action that women perform for only a small part of their lives. Indeed, the main reasons why women neither initiate breastfeeding nor continue it as long as in other European countries appear to relate to social and cultural issues. Separation of mother and baby, usually secondary to the ill- health of one or both parties, may have a significant impact on the establishment of breastfeeding. Separation of mother and baby, usually secondary to the ill- health of one or both parties, may have a significant impact on the establishment of breastfeeding.
