Shortcuts: Breast-feeding mothers on the rise, says survey

Breast-feeding has seen a statistically significant increase across across the UK in the past five years, according to the 2000 infant feeding survey.But older mothers, those who stayed in full-time education and those in social class I and II had the highest breast-feeding rates.Overall breast-feeding rates have risen from 66 per cent to 69 per cent across the UK, with the lowest rates in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which started from a lower baseline.The survey also revealed that the number of mothers who smoke while breast-feeding has fallen from 23 per cent to 18 per cent since 1995.