But the Scottish Executive’s bid for 50% of new mums to be breastfeeding by the six-to-eight week review failed.

The number of women in Dundee breastfeeding by that stage jumped from 26.3% in 2004, to 32.7% in 2005.

But at their first health visit last year, 39.3% were breastfeeding.

It is these women who stop breastfeeding early, and the hundreds who have never breastfed, that NHS Tayside’s breastfeeding strategists hope to target.

Janet Dalzell, breastfeeding co-ordinator with NHS Tayside, said, “Women can be influenced by whether they have successfully breastfed before. Those mums tend to breastfeed again.

“And a lot can be said for the social learning theory. By seeing someone from your own social network, whether it is a friend or family member, successfully breastfeeding, that can have a really positive influence.

Confidence

“Television, especially soaps, could do more to promote breastfeeding. When characters have babies they always tend to bottle-feed.

“Building confidence in mums is vital. Unfortunately the expectations of motherhood do not match reality. Women want to be the best mums in the world but many don’t have any confidence when it comes to feeding.

“That stems largely from our culture which labels crying babies as hungry babies instead of understanding that it is their way of communicating. But it often leads to mums presuming they aren’t doing the right thing.

“We need to boost their confidence so they know they are doing a good job.”

Janet believes “information, communication and education” are vital in the push to promote breastfeeding.

She added, “It wasn’t until last year that we had breastfeeding on the curriculum of student midwives.

“We are training staff on getting back to basics, teaching them how to do the practicalities of supporting women.

“In a bid to boost breastfeeding in more deprived areas of Tayside, Scottish Executive funding was used to hire breastfeeding support workers. Preliminary results show their work in hospitals and the community has helped increase the rates in these areas by 7%.”

As well as the health benefits, many mums have also spoken about a “special closeness” which comes only from breastfeeding.

Janet said, “Many people who don’t breastfeed get angry about this — they say why would you bond less with your bottle-fed baby?

“But I have spoken to mums who say there is a physiological, invisible link to their babies. They say they and their baby get comfort from breastfeeding.

“And many mums who have done both bottle and breast say they say saw a complete difference. You can have all the experts in the world debating the merits but mums are the real experts.”

Four in every five mums believe the rest of the UK should follow Scotland’s lead in protecting their rights to breastfeed in public.

The National Childbirth Trust survey also found that 29% of Scots mums felt more comfortable breastfeeding in public since MSPs passed legislation on the subject.

Since last year, businesses and public bodies have been liable to face fines of up to £2000 for obstructing breastfeeding.

Embarrassed

The UK-wide poll found 79% believe the same protection of rights should be introduced in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Janet wholeheartedly supports the Act, but believes more still needs to be done.

“Many women say they are not embarrassed about breastfeeding in public but they are embarrassed about embarrassing other people.

“They would like better facilities in the town centres that are actually nice environments. They are often smelly, with no chair and stuck in a corner of a nappy-changing area. Breastfeeding can often take quite some time so you want somewhere pleasant and comfortable.”

Health Minister Andy Kerr welcomed the national rise in breastfeeding but acknowledged more needs to be done to hit the target.

He said, “It is disappointing that our challenging target of ensuring more than 50% of women are breastfeeding their babies at six weeks has not been met.

“We know that breastfeeding protects babies from a host of potential health problems.

“I am disappointed that we have not hit our target and that while uptake in some areas with high levels of deprivation are improving, this is not happening quickly enough.”