Photograph by Irene
New mothers are to be offered up to £200 in shopping vouchers to persuade them to breastfeed their babies in a new pilot scheme.
The scheme is being targeted at more deprived areas of Sheffield and Chesterfield, with funds coming from the public and private sectors. Those areas were chosen due to their low breastfeeding rates, with just 25% of mothers there breastfeeding their children compared with the 55% UK average.
The women involved in the scheme will be given £120 after six weeks of breastfeeding, and then received another £80 after six months. The breastfeeding would be verified by midwives and health visitors.
The team behind the scheme say that a lack of breastfeeding is behind many health inequalities with research showing that it helps improve a child’s immunity as well as helping towards better educational attainment.
If the scheme proves successful in these areas, a larger nationwide pilot could be launched in 2014.
The idea of financial incentives to “nudge” people to make more healthy decisions is well established in the NHS, with previous schemes targeting smokers and those overweight.
