The council has achieved gold status in the first-ever Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Local Authority Award, recognising its commitment to supporting breastfeeding in the workplace and wider community.

It is hoped that a range of measures implemented over the last three years have contributed to a marked increase in breastfeeding rates across the region, with 30.4% of babies being breastfed by their 6-8 week review. Importantly, the number of babies breastfed in their first days that live in the most deprived areas North Lanarkshire saw a 12.3 percentage point increase since 2016/17 to 33.5%.

The council has worked collaboratively with the Scottish Government and NHS Lanarkshire to develop the new evidence-based accreditation process aimed specifically at local authorities in Scotland.

A wide range of council services have incorporated breastfeeding into their delivery in order to positively impact on culture and practice in a way that promotes long-term progress in breastfeeding.  

Depute Leader of the Council, Councillor Louise Roarty said, “We had one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in North Lanarkshire, driven by significant health and inequality challenges.  Yet one of the biggest levellers of inequity that we naturally have is breastfeeding, and the council is committed to cultivating a more welcoming environment to encourage more mums to breastfeed.

“We have worked hard to implement a range of measures across services to support breastfeeding, make the workplace environment more conducive to breastfeeding and expressing milk and to developing a culture where breastfeeding really is the norm. Latest figures show that the number of babies breastfed at six to eight weeks in North Lanarkshire has risen to 30.4% compared to 20.9% eight years ago. These latest figures are a fitting achievement as we receive the gold accreditation for the actions the council has taken with partners to improve those rates.

“Supporting families to have improved outcomes starts from birth and the benefits from breastfeeding can have a significant impact on longer-term health and wellbeing and wider opportunities.”

Specifically, the council has implemented a number of changes including:

• Significantly improved employer support through the introduction of a corporate breastfeeding policy with workplaces set up for women to continue to breastfeed/express in a private room if required, with refrigeration facilities when returning to work.
• Established nine community breastfeeding champions of mixed gender, who work with health colleagues in communities to promote and support breastfeeding.
• All early years establishments achieved Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Early Learning and Childcare award and 80% of all school establishments achieved Breastfeeding Friendly Schools award. This includes NHS breastfeeding awareness training, embedding breastfeeding in the curriculum and play environments in nurseries and early years have been redesigned to promote an environment where breastfeeding is seen as the biological norm for feeding infants and young children.
• All new-build facilities including community hubs will have breastfeeding facilities designed in at the planning stage.
• Foster carers completed NHS training on responsive feeding, financial support and social work staff trained on infant nutrition and benefits of breastfeeding.
• Libraries, leisure and sport facilities provide a warm welcome space and facilities for breastfeeding on site.  
• Road signage, public buildings and fleet vehicles will have BFS signage in place.

The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, Jenni Minto, presented the first-ever gold Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland award to the Depute Leader at a ceremony in Coatbridge Community Centre, where they were joined by community champions and breastfeeding mums and babies. 

Public Health Minister, Jenni Minto MSP, said: “My sincere congratulations to North Lanarkshire Council on achieving gold status in the first-ever Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Local Authority Award, recognising its commitment to supporting breastfeeding in the workplace and wider community.

“The Scottish Government is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of the Scottish population and ensuring that every child gets the best possible start in life. We continue to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding and enable fully informed infant feeding choices, including for mum’s who struggle to breastfeed, and this should include their feeding journey in public places.”

Professor Jann Gardner, chief executive, NHS Lanarkshire, said: “This accreditation for North Lanarkshire Council is well deserved and clearly demonstrates the positive impact of giving our children the best possible start in life.

“Our colleagues at the council are playing a key role in tackling significant long-standing health and inequality challenges and, crucially, we have worked with them to ensure they’re doing this in an evidence based way.

“I’m sure this great work will make a far-reaching positive impact on the culture and practice not only in the council, but also lead to progressive change and have a lasting legacy throughout North Lanarkshire.”