This year, Healthy Ireland and Sláintecare are making a significant investment towards implementing the National Breastfeeding Action Plan. The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, has today announced additional funding to the HSE of €1.58 million to fund 24 additional lactation consultants thereby providing support to every maternity unit in the country.
A lactation consultant is a healthcare professional with specialist breastfeeding expertise who can assess and treat both common and serious nursing problems thereby increasing the mothers likelihood to initiate breastfeeding successfully and to continue to breastfeed.
.Minister of health Stephen Donnelly stated ” It is very important that the children get the best possible start in life and this is something all Government partners have prioritised in the Programme for Government Ireland has a culture of bottle feeding and in order to improve child and maternal health, as well as reducing childhood obesity we need to improve our breastfeeding rates. This funding will provide for Lactation Consultants across hospital and community settings to ensure timely skilled assistance for mothers who wish to breastfeed. It will also support enhanced training, skills and knowledge to frontline staff.”
These steps engage and co-ordinate multi-sectoral action to help reduce obesity and commit to investment in additional resources in acute and primary care settings together with enhanced training, provision of supports to mothers and social marketing.