Every August, World Breastfeeding Week (1 to 7 August) asks a simple question. Do the systems around new parents actually support them? This year, for the first time in a generation, England has new data to answer it.
In June, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities published the Infant Feeding Survey 2024, the first survey of its kind since 2010. More than 10,000 mothers in England shared how they fed their babies across the first 10 months of life, what got in the way, and what would have helped. The survey covers England, but the pattern it describes will be familiar to employers with colleagues across the UK.
For HR and benefits leaders, one theme runs through the findings. Most parents start out wanting to breastfeed. Most hit difficulties. And for many, the return to work is the moment support ends.
What the new data shows
The headline numbers tell a story of strong intention meeting hard reality:
- 86% of mothers initiated breastfeeding, and 58% of babies were still being breastfed at six months.
- 73% of mothers who breastfed experienced at least one difficulty. The most common were engorgement (42%), problems with latching (25%), and concerns about milk supply (25%).
- 56% of breastfeeding mothers experienced pain as a result of feeding.
- 72% of mothers who stopped breastfeeding by the time their baby was four to six months old said they would have liked to continue for longer.
Feeding journeys are rarely cut short by a lack of effort. They end early when support is missing at the moment it matters, whether that is help with a latch in week one or a private space to express milk in month seven.
What happens to breastfeeding when parents return to work?
The survey is the first national dataset in 16 years to connect infant feeding with the return to work.
More than half of mothers (56%) who had returned to work did so when their baby was six to nine months old. That is exactly the window in which NHS guidance recommends continued breastfeeding alongside solid foods, into the second year of life or beyond.
As a result, 36% of mothers intending to start or return to work within the next year planned to stop or reduce breastfeeding when they returned.
Of mothers already back in paid work, 62% did not think the return had affected how they fed their baby. In other words, when the practical barriers are removed, work and breastfeeding can coexist. The question for employers is whether their workplace removes those barriers or adds to them.
What are breastfeeding rights at work in the UK?
Once an employee informs you in writing that she is breastfeeding, you must review your workplace risk assessment to check for any specific risks to her or her baby. Under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, you must also provide suitable facilities for pregnant and breastfeeding employees to rest.
HSE guidance is specific about what suitable means. The space should be hygienic and private, so employees can express milk if they choose to, with somewhere to store it, such as a fridge. Toilets are not a suitable place to express milk.
There is currently no legal right to paid breastfeeding breaks in the UK, unlike in many other European countries. But employers who refuse to accommodate expressing at work are not on safe ground.
A blanket refusal can risk claims of sex discrimination, and tribunals have found against employers who failed to provide suitable private facilities. Acas guidance encourages employers to treat requests seriously and to agree arrangements before the employee returns.
Supporting breastfeeding employees goes beyond the legal minimum
The organisations that keep new parents tend to go beyond the legal minimum in a few ways:
- A private, lockable room for expressing milk, with a comfortable chair, a power socket, and fridge access. Not a toilet, and not a meeting room that anyone can book over.
- Flexible breaks agreed in advance, so employees are not negotiating time to express on a case-by-case basis.
- A written policy shared before parental leave begins, so returners know what to expect and managers know what to offer.
- Manager awareness, so the first conversation about feeding is not the returner explaining her rights.
- Flexible working options. Since April 2024, employees can request flexible working from day one of employment, and a phased or adjusted return can make the difference between continuing to breastfeed and giving up.
- Access to expert support, so parents facing latching problems, supply worries, or pain have somewhere to turn beyond a search engine.
In the survey, 30% of mothers who wanted to breastfeed for longer said more support from hospital staff would have helped, and 21% pointed to community midwifery teams. Expert help is the single most consistent gap, and it is one employers can help close through the benefits they offer.
How Carrot supports working parents
Carrot supports employees through pregnancy, the postnatal period, and the return to work as part of a comprehensive family-forming benefit. That includes access to doula care, expert-led educational resources, and personalised support for whatever a parent’s journey looks like, from fertility care through to early parenthood.
This World Breastfeeding Week, the new data gives employers something they have not had in 16 years: clear evidence of where support breaks down, and a picture of what closing the gap looks like.
To learn how Carrot can help your organisation support new parents, get in touch. If you’re a Carrot member, sign in to your Carrot account and explore your resources.
