Mums Told Still To Breastfeed

14 January 2011, 15:17 | Updated: 14 January 2011, 17:21

The NHS says their guidelines on breastfeeding remain the same despite experts from University College London claiming breast milk exclusively may not give babies all the nutrition they need.

UK guidelines are for women to breastfeed for the first six months of a baby's life before introducing solids.

However experts from University College London's Institute of Child Health say babies could suffer iron deficiency and may be more prone to allergies if they only get breast milk. They also say breastfeeding exclusively for six months may put babies off some foods.

Jonathan Williams from NHS Norfolk says that goes against their advice and breastfeeding is the best thing to do:

"Breastfeeding offers so many fantastic things for our kids, not just the immunity from their mothers but the essential vitamins. You're having this fantastic meal every day, and it's essential for children as they're developing at that age because they haven't got the infrastructure we have as you get older.

The questions we ask ourselves, are we right, are we wrong, are essential questions. What we know is that there is one clear message with breastfeeding, that it does give our children the best start in life, and we don't want that to be obscured."

Current guidelines remain the same - both the World Health Organisation and the Department of Health say mothers should breastfeed for the first six months.

However the government's ordered a review of infant feeding - which will report later this year.

You can find more information and a link to the full report on the side of the page.