Breastfeeding is a low-cost, locally available source of nutrition which also provides lifelong health benefits for infants.

🤱 This week is World Breastfeeding Week hosted by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA). Protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding is essential for optimal nutrition, healthy development, food security, and poverty reduction.

☀️ We’d like to highlight our Eating Well: Packed lunches for 1 to under-5 year olds guide for parents sending their young children off to summer camps during the holidays.

The briefing highlights both the importance of the scheme as a nutritional safety net and the extent to which its impact is currently limited by low payment levels and restricted eligibility. Key themes from the report are:

🍅 Last month the Food Foundation and Sustain published a new policy briefing examining the Healthy Start scheme and its role in supporting low-income families with young children to access a nutritious diet.

🍅 Aspects of food fussiness are a normal stage of development; most studies estimate 10-30% of 2-6 year olds are affected, and most children, but not all, grow out of it.

📰 A new paper from Australia rethinks food fussiness in childhood in the context of the wider food environment and its associated commercial drivers.

🤱 Breastfeeding 🍐 86% of mothers initiated breastfeeding (compared to 83% in 2010), 58% reported breastfeeding at 6 months (compared to 36% in 2010), and 26% exclusively breastfed (compared to 1% in 2010).

👏 The long-awaited Infant Feeding Survey for England, 2024 was published on June 4th. The report comes 14 years after the last one was published in 2012. Here are a few key findings…➡️

Following these findings, 11 recommendations were posed to the Government, with price controls included as a recommended ‘back stop’ in the event the CMA’s proposed package of measures did not achieve desired market outcomes within a reasonable timeframe.

➡️ In February 2025 the Competitions and Markets Authority identified weak competition in the formula market, excessive price rises, and exceptionally high profit margins (50-75%) as key issues leading to the dramatic rise in formula prices following the cost-of-living crisis.

❗ We’ve recently restated our recommendations to the Government to address the rising cost of infant formula in the UK based our latest infant formula milk cost analysis. Here is what to know…

🍐 The price gap between the cheapest and most expensive first infant formulas remain substantial: Aldi’s Mamia costs £6.99/tin, while Aptamil Advanced costs £18.00/tin, an difference £11.01.

❗ We’ve updated our infant milks cost report to support informed decisions about which products to use for formula feeding families on a budget. A few practical tips ➡️

🍇 We highlighted NSS in the diets of young children in the UK in our 2019 policy briefing ‘Sweet enough already?’, particularly focusing on the high levels of consumption of NSS soft drinks among toddlers.

❗ Consumption of Non-Sugar Sweeteners (NSS) is associated with multiple chronic disease, and NSS exposure is increasingly difficult to avoid as food and beverage manufacturers replace added sugar with NSS.

☀️ Warm weather is here for the weekend and we'd like to offer a few tips on infant hydration! 💧

For each gram of food, there were up to 99 microplastic particles in the Danone Happy Baby Organics fruit purée pouches, and up to 54 particles in the Nestlé Gerber yoghurt pouches, on average.

A new investigation by Greenpeace International found plastic particles and plastic-associated chemicals in Danone and Nestlé plastic spouted baby food pouches.

ICYMI we will be delivering a webinar a week today, on 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟰 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟭:𝟬𝟬 – 𝟮:𝟬𝟬𝗽𝗺, to introduce *health workers* with an interest in infant milk feeding to our website dedicated to infant milk: www.infantmilkinfo.org.

There is strong scientific evidence that breastfeeding your baby can reduce your risk of developing breast cancer. There is also some evidence that breastfeeding lowers the risk of ovarian cancer.

🤱 For this year’s World Cancer Prevention Action Week, we are highlighting the important link to breastfeeding and cancer protection, for both mums and babies.

For each gram of food, there were up to 99 microplastic particles in Danone Happy Baby Organics fruit purée pouches, and up to 54 particles in Nestlé Gerber yoghurt pouches, on average.

A new investigation commissioned by Greenpeace International found plastic particles and plastic-associated chemicals in Danone and Nestlé plastic spouted baby food pouches.

🍐 NHS guidance advises that powdered infant formula should be made with freshly boiled tap water that has cooled to no less than 70°C because powdered infant formula is not sterile, and hot water helps to kill bacteria that may be present in the powder.

❗ We’ve updated our FAQ on rapid cooling devices such as the Nuby Rapid Cool and Tommee Tippee PrepGo. ➡️ 🍼 Rapid cooling devices are designed to cool freshly prepared infant formula to a safe temperature for feeding within a few minutes.

In January, the Food Standards Agency issued a series of food alerts detailing a range of formula milks under the Aptamil, Cow & Gate and SMA brands which were contaminated with, or potentially contaminated with, the toxin cereulide.

🍼 On Thursday we published a new policy briefing on infant food security and formula safety in the UK, with recommendations from the cereulide toxin formula contamination and recall event. ➡️

🍼 Formula fed infants 0-6 months should not be given water routinely. This is to avoid displacing infant formula which provides necessary energy and nutrients, and because too much water can cause overhydration and water intoxication.

It is advised NOT to give them water as breastmilk adapts to infant’s needs, including for water which is a component of breastmilk. During a heatwave babies may want to feed little and often to quench their thirst. A breastfeeding mother may therefore want to drink more fluid than usual during hot