
Share
4th October 2016
10:50am BST

Out of the world's 27 highest-income countries, Ireland has – by far – the lowest percentage of mothers who breastfeed their babies, currently standing at only 57%.
Luckily, great measures are being put in place for this trend to change, and as part of this year's National Breastfeeding Week, events are being organized across the country aiming to support, inform and educate mothers (and everyone else) about breastfeeding.
Yesterday, Sabina Higgins kicked National Breastfeeding Week by organizing Latching On – a breastfeeding morning for 200 mums and babies in Áras an Uachtaráin. The purpose of the event was to raise awareness of Ireland's low breastfeeding rates and to try to increase them by offering more supports to mothers.
The President's wife was joined by La Leche League of Ireland, Cuidiú, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI), Friends of Breastfeeding and the Association for Improvement in the Maternity Services Ireland (AIMS).
Higgins herself spoke of the importance of breastfeeding and the impact it has on the health of future generations, and Essene Cassidy, president of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, explains that while that rates of breastfeeding in Ireland have gone up from 53% in 2009, to 56% in 2013, we still have one of the lowest rates in the EU.Explore more on these topics: