This information has been taken from the Infant Feeding Survey 2000 and can be found at http://www.doh.gov.uk/infantfeeding/publications.htm
Although 69% of mothers start breastfeeding, about a fifth of these mothers stop within the first two weeks such that only 52% of mothers are still breastfeeding after 2 weeks and by 4 months only 28% of babies are still getting some breast milk.
Although the proportion of mothers breastfeeding at younger ages is higher in England and Wales compared to Scotland, there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of breastfeeding in Scotland between 1995 and 2000 which was not seen in England and Wales. This means that mothers in Scotland who opt to breastfeed tend to do so for longer than those in the rest of the UK. By 6 months, 40% of Scottish mothers who started breastfeeding were still giving some breast milk compared with 34% in England and Wales and 21% in Northern Ireland.
First-time mothers are more likely to stop breastfeeding within the first six weeks than mothers of subsequent babies (32% vs 23%). Mothers in higher socio-economic groups are more likely to breastfeed for longer than six weeks than those in lower socio-economic groups (60% vs 26%) and better educated mothers are more likely to breastfeed for longer than six weeks than less well-educated mothers (64% vs 27%).
