MUMS in North Yorkshire are to be given extra encouragement to breastfeed their babies after health chiefs in the region secured a huge slice of Government cash.

The Department of Health has devoted £100,000 in funding towards allowing hospitals in the region to reach “baby-friendly status”, which will include providing improved training for staff who work with pregnant women and mothers.

NHS North Yorkshire and York hopes the money will be a boost to its Healthy Weight, Active Lives strategy, which has seen it set ambitious targets towards helping families in the area give youngsters the best possible start in life.

Current figures show that while the national rate for breastfeeding is about 77 per cent, that figure is substantially lower in York and Selby – where it stands at around 66 per cent – and falls even further, to a level of 57 per cent, in Ryedale.

Staff at NHS North Yorkshire and York will now begin a programme of training for healthcare professionals involved in providing help and guidance for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers in June, and look to recruit more staff to move its project forward from September.

The chief aims of the Healthy Weight, Active Lives initiative have been earmarked as strengthening local breastfeeding support networks, co-ordinating the help and information available and ensuring the appropriate community facilities for breastfeeding are put in place.

It is also designed to encourage public acceptance of breastfeeding as “the social and cultural norm” and to move the health trust towards earning UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative accreditation.

“This funding will go a long way in helping us achieve our ambitions to improve the health of mothers and young children by increasing rates of breastfeeding,” said Rachel Johns, NHS North Yorkshire and York’s associate director of public health.

“Breastfeeding provides all the nutrients a baby needs and contributes to the health of mother and child in both the short and long-term. Our policy is to promote breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months, and continuing for as long as the mother and baby wish, while gradually introducing a more varied diet.

“This project will have an overall focus on improving breastfeeding rates across the whole of North Yorkshire and York, but we will be focusing our work on narrowing the gap in those areas which have the lowest rates.”

Maternity facilities are classed as being “baby-friendly” when they do not accept free or low-cost breast milk substitutes, feeding bottles or teats.