Infant Feeding

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—(Martin McCluskey.)

It is a pleasure to bring this Adjournment debate to the Chamber on a topic close to my heart. I refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as the Chair of the all-party parliamentary group for infant feeding. I am pleased as always to see the Minister in her place. I look forward to her response on behalf of the Government just days before the long awaited 10-year plan for the NHS.

When the Secretary of State for Health promised to create the “healthiest generation ever”, it was a bold and admirable ambition, and certainly one that I share with him. Every child deserves the opportunity to thrive regardless of their wealth or their postcode. When the Government talk of building a better future for children, their policies and schemes often start with school—with free school meals and breakfast clubs—or providing Government support for nurseries and early years settings, but there is little substance in the critical years from birth to three, and even less when it comes to policy around infant feeding, whether that is breastfeeding, formula feeding or a combination of the two.

I had my son nearly 11 years ago, and I remember with fondness the lactation consultant coming on to the ward in the maternity unit and showing me how best to hold my son to feed him and what to expect in the first few weeks after taking him home. I did not have an easy journey with breastfeeding: I suffered with pain when he latched, I had multiple bouts of mastitis and swelling—the list went on. My husband and I ran our own restaurant at the time, so he took approximately three hours of paternity leave before returning to work.

I am grateful to the hon. Member for the work we are doing together on the all-party parliamentary group for infant feeding and for her passion in this space. Breastfeeding is a full-time job. Only last week, Carrie Johnson, the wife of one of our former Prime Ministers, highlighted how easy it is to neglect your own needs as a mother while breastfeeding. Does the hon. Member agree that it is essential that the Government establish six weeks of paid paternity leave, so that breastfeeding mothers can focus on feeding their baby and partners can focus on looking after mum?

I thank the hon. Member for her intervention. I was so pleased to hear the statement in the House earlier today. I know that she has been a tireless advocate for making sure that parental leave for all parents is improved dramatically. I thank her for her advocacy in that area.

I commend the hon. Lady; I spoke to her before the debate. In the last Parliament, one of the Scots Nats MPs was chair of the APPG. I was supportive of that as a man, as I thought that was important. My wife was an example of where breastfeeding is so important. Is the hon. Lady aware that Northern Ireland had the top score—69.5 out of 100—among UK nations? That may be because Northern Ireland has already put policies in place and is the only nation to have completed updated resources on infant feeding and HIV. Will she join me in urging the Northern Ireland health trust to share best practice with the other devolved nations and with the Minister to help encourage breastfeeding among those mothers who are able to do so?

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. He is right that Northern Ireland scored the highest in the report card format on the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative, which I will come to. In comparison, England scored a paltry less than 50, which was very much due to scoring zero on infant feeding and HIV.

I thank the hon. Member for securing this Adjournment debate on such an important topic. She spoke of some of the difficulties she had at the start of her breastfeeding journey, which my partner Catherine also experienced. When my partner had those difficulties, she accessed a breastfeeding support clinic in my constituency at Meadway health centre, which was a huge source of support and benefit to her. Does the hon. Member agree that it is important to protect and support access to such services, ensuring they are there for every woman who wishes to breastfeed?

It is as if the hon. Member has lifted my words directly off the page in a timely manner. The reason I managed to carry on was that I attended a peer support group in my local church hall every Monday morning, aptly called Milk. It was not about the professional support that I had while I was there—although that was great, and I give a shout-out to the wonderful Julie who supported all the mums—it was meeting the other mums who were going through the same things and the ability to ask each other questions and offer advice, as well as the amazing trained peer supporters, who were volunteers. I give a quick shout-out to Holly, who showed us that we could and would survive those difficult first few months and come out the other side, just like she had.

I thank the hon. Member for securing this important Adjournment debate this evening. In South Derbyshire, I hear stories of services to support breastfeeding women being cut. I speak as a mum who breastfed to eight months, although I had that moment where I almost did not, and it was my community midwife who saved the day for me. Does the hon. Member agree that as well as having services to support breastfeeding women, whether they are successful in doing so, they decide not to or they cannot, we should create safe spaces for them? I have done exactly that in my constituency surgery, but I would like to see it in other venues.

I thank the hon. Member for sharing her personal story and for advocating for other breastfeeding and formula-feeding parents in her constituency. She highlights that there is a postcode lottery when it comes to that support. We need to see safe spaces across the board for all parents who are feeding.

In the group I attended, there were not just breastfeeding mums, but mums who were combination feeding, in the process of introducing solids or planning their feeding journey as they navigated returning to work. Some of those women became my closest friends and I still have them in my life all these years later.

I thank the hon. Member for bringing this important issue to the Chamber. My wife and I are expecting our first in the coming weeks, so as hon. Members will expect, this is an important subject in which I am quickly upskilling myself. In my constituency, I have a similar group called Exmouth Bosom Buddies, which does a fantastic job that we know relieves pressure on the NHS. What more does the hon. Member think can be done to allow such groups to grow, thrive and flourish so that they can continue their vital work?

Before the hon. Member gets to her feet, I am just reminded of the midwifery-led Crowborough birthing unit, which helps the lovely mums in my constituency.

The hon. Gentleman highlights how important it is to have that community-based support in an area. Unfortunately, not every mother across the UK can say the same. There are areas where they have to travel up to an hour by car to attend that sort of group, and I will come on to that point.

When I had my daughter, five years after my son, the support that I had relied on had all but vanished. The Milk group was now being run out of, in effect, a broom cupboard at my local leisure centre, with no opportunity to socialise with other mums. Only six months later, the pandemic hit and my daughter’s health visitor reviews were done via Zoom, often without my daughter even on the screen. The local children and family centre in my constituency never reopened in the same way after the pandemic.

I was one of the lucky ones because I had already built my village around me five years earlier and I had a network of friends and family that I could call on. However, for those who have become new mothers in the last decade, that support has been all but vaporised, with community support groups patchy and often delivered by volunteers or those wonderful midwives in their time off.

It is essential to acknowledge and support those parents who cannot or choose not to breastfeed, to ensure that they feel empowered and confident in the decisions they make for their children’s nutrition and wellbeing. I am a proud advocate of every parent having choice, but that choice should be an informed one. Currently, it is not a level playing field, with formula companies preying on the vulnerability of parents.

The Competition and Markets Authority launched a market study into the formula industry in February 2024 and published its results earlier this year. The study provided a comprehensive, in-depth and up-to-date exploration of the infant formula market in the UK through a consultative process that has offered unique insights into the industry. A short extract from the CMA’s overview of its findings states:

I commend my hon. Friend for the great work she is doing to improve the relationship between a mother and her infant—the most important relationship in the world. Will she join me in paying tribute to the midwives of Powys teaching health board, who have the largest county in Wales to cover? Will she also join me in paying tribute to Susan Grounds, who, after being a midwife for over 20 years, retired in March and was elected as a Lib Dem councillor in April?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that these women have often been embedded in their communities for many years, helping women to raise their babies, and that they go on to do marvellous things in the community.

The majority of those who stop breastfeeding early wanted to breastfeed for longer, but did not receive the help they needed to resolve problems, all of which could be addressed with support from trained health workers, skilled peer supporters or specialist help in hospital, at home or in the community. The World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative report highlights the absence of national policy and governance in England. The devolved nations have pulled ahead on this front, with Scotland publishing a strategic framework, Wales having had an action plan since 2019 and Northern Ireland currently finalising its strategy. Support needs to be baked into policy and legislation because communities cannot do this alone. It being so early in this Parliament, the Government have all the opportunities to act. I was delighted to see today’s announcement of a review of the parental leave and pay system, and I hope that infant feeding will play into the considerations of better support for parents on maternity and paternity leave.

Health visitor teams have also dwindled over recent years, and an estimated 54,000 GP appointments could be saved every year if a professional feeding service was available in every community. Any strategy must be properly funded and integrated with current programmes across communities and healthcare settings, such as family hubs and Start for Life, which should themselves be expanded, particularly Start for Life, which is funded only in half of England’s local authorities. Some councils are choosing to make this an area to improve on, and I am pleased to see my local authority—West Sussex county council—include the early years as part of its health strategy for the next five years, even without the Start for Life funding, which it does not receive.

I congratulate the hon. Member on securing the debate. Through her leadership of the all-party parliamentary group for infant feeding, she is working to ensure that families across the country get the right support. I thank all hon. Members who have contributed—my hon. Friends the Members for Ribble Valley (Maya Ellis), for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Rand), for South Derbyshire (Samantha Niblett) and for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick), the hon. Members for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and for Exmouth and Exeter East (David Reed), and yourself, Madam Deputy Speaker.

The number of interventions and contributions has shown how important the issue is and how deeply it is felt across the House. The hon. Member for Chichester asked about the 10-year plan. I will not go into detail about what is in it, but—tick, tock—she does not have to wait long as the plan will be launched on Thursday morning.

I look forward to working with colleagues across the House and the wider health landscape on how we deliver the plan. In that plan, they will see that children’s early years are crucial to their development, health and life chances. That is why the Government are taking a mission-based approach to raising the healthiest generation of children ever and to ensuring that every child has a healthy, happy start to life.