11:13am Monday 21st June 2010
By Jonathan Redhead
A group of mothers will breastfeed at an Ilkley landmark to highlight their support for a national campaign.
Airedale Mums will be at the Cow and Calf rocks in Ilkley today, the first day of National Breastfeeding Week 2010, to show their backing for recent changes to the law which make it illegal for anyone to ask a women not to breastfeed in public.
The group, which has been campaigning for improvements to local maternity services, say breastfeeding can also save the National Health Service millions each year.
“If all British babies were exclusively breastfed for just three months, it would save the NHS around £50m a year on the treatment of just one childhood ailment alone: gastro-enteritis,” said Airedale Mums campaigner Alison Widdup, from Addingham.
“The scientific evidence for wide-ranging health cost savings is overwhelming.”
Airedale Mums also wants to see the creation of a milk bank in the Ilkley area.
They say there is a current bank in Halifax, but a more localised bank would help the National Health Service money each year.
Everyone, not just mothers who breastfeed, is invited along to the breastfeeding event from noon at the Cow and Calf car park.
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