Hansard

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak for the Liberal Democrats in this important debate, and I thank Jenny Minto for securing chamber time for it.

We have come a long way in this country in terms of our approach to breastfeeding, which was laid out in the Breastfeeding etc (Scotland) Act 2005. That legislation represented a step change in our attitudes and society’s attitudes to breastfeeding, which until then was still shrouded in stigma and was, at times, regressive.

Even after that legislation was passed, I came up against that stigma personally, when my wife and I went to a bar with our newborn son, Finn, some 15 years ago—a couple of years after the 2005 act was passed, or a little bit later. We were going to have some food with friends, so we rang up the bar and asked whether it was okay to bring a child in, and it said that children were welcome until 8.30. That was until Gill started to breastfeed Finn. We were made so uncomfortable that a member of staff suggested that the advice that we had been given was wrong and that we had to leave. We phoned the bar again later and were advised that there was nothing wrong with the advice that had been given originally. We could see that we had just made waiting staff feel uncomfortable.

Breastfeeding has an important role to play in children’s health outcomes. We know, for instance, that it helps to protect children from a range of infections and illnesses such as asthma, diabetes, obesity and heart disease. We also know that it has a role to play in protecting mothers from ovarian cancer and breast cancer. There are, of course, all the added financial advantages to families, who can save on the cost of formula.

We should be proud of the distance that we have travelled in this country. It is a point of pride that we were the first country to legally protect breastfeeding in that legislation back in 2005. It was taken through Parliament by Elaine Smith of Labour and backed by Liberal Democrat-Labour coalition votes. The 2005 act made it a criminal offence to deliberately prevent someone from or stop them feeding a child under the age of two in a public place in Scotland.

Although we have come that distance, there is still work to be done to ensure that every mother has the support that they need to make the best and most informed choice for themselves and their baby. A recent infant feeding survey found that 65 per cent of babies born in Scotland were breastfed for at least some time after birth, and that 46 per cent of babies are still being breastfed after the six-to-eight-week mark.

What is notable about that survey is that mothers living in more affluent areas are more likely to breastfeed than those in deprived areas. That is a health inequality. We can see that there is also a disparity when we look at how health boards are performing in supporting mothers to breastfeed. Government must give health boards the support that they need to close the gaps, with a particular emphasis on those less-affluent areas. We cannot have a postcode lottery when it comes to giving children the best start in life.

It is also important to say that the decision whether to breastfeed is always solely the mother’s. Women must be given all the information about the benefits of breastfeeding and be provided with all the advice and in-person support, if needed, to help them to breastfeed, if they so choose. However, that support must always be support—never pressure.

Having a child is a life-changing event. For many people, sadly, that change is not as straightforward as they had assumed it might be or as we would wish it to be for them. The postpartum period is a very vulnerable time for new mothers, and some women find it more challenging than others to feed their baby. Breastfeeding can also become more difficult because of infection or mastitis. It is therefore vital that, when we talk about the benefits of breastfeeding, we do so in a way that does not stigmatise any mother who is unable to breastfeed or chooses not to.

There are cultural aspects to breastfeeding as well.

It is vital that any mother who struggles with postnatal depression is given all the support and care that they need to cope. It is deeply concerning that only 14 per cent of Scottish health boards met a UK-wide standard that was devised by the Royal College of Psychiatrists for specialist perinatal mental health support. That is an issue that I have raised in the chamber before.

Scottish Liberal Democrats were proud to be the first party in this Parliament to set out a comprehensive and dedicated strategy for improving the detection and treatment of maternal mental health issues to bolster our perinatal mental health offer, and it was gratifying when the Government adopted much of that blueprint. However, despite the good work that has been done in that area and the good progress that has been made, there sadly continues to be a postcode lottery for perinatal mental health services in Scotland. Women across Scotland cannot afford the Government resting on its laurels on the issue.

Protecting mothers and giving newborn babies the best possible start in life has to be an absolute priority for everyone in the chamber—not just the Government, but the entire Parliament.