A SCOTTISH Government drive to persuade more new mothers to breastfeed is showing little progress, figures suggest.
In some areas, fewer than one in five newborns are fed with breast milk alone.
The Scottish Government's health blueprint last year set out to increase the proportion of babies being breastfed exclusively at six to eight weeks from 26.2 per c
ent to 32.7 per cent in 2010, a rise of 25 per cent.
But latest figures showed that 26.4 per cent of mothers were breastfeeding exclusively by that stage.
A further 9.6 per cent were feeding their children with both breast milk and formula. The overall rate for breastfeeding, both exclusive and mixed, was said to have stayed "relatively stable" since 2001.
Breastfeeding rates also varied widely across Scotland. Exclusive breastfeeding at the stage of six to eight weeks varied from 35 per cent in NHS Lothian to 18.8 per cent in NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
Statisticians said there was a clear link with deprivation, with 42.3 per cent of mothers in the least deprived areas exclusively breastfeeding at six to eight weeks compared with 13.9 per cent in the most deprived areas.
But the gap has narrowed slightly in recent years – in 2001 the figures were 12 per cent in the most deprived areas and 43.4 per cent in the least deprived.
Overall, the figures showed that 44.6 per cent of Scottish mothers were breastfeeding – 37.5 per cent exclusively and 7 per cent mixed – at the ten-day stage, compared with 44.1 per cent in 2006.
By the six to eight week stage the figure had gone down to 36 per cent – 26.4 per cent exclusively and 9.6 per cent mixed.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said the administration was aware of the importance of breastfeeding, which was the biggest single factor in improving children's health, and had given a target to health boards.
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