Breastfeeding in the UK: The Most and Least Friendly Cities for Breastfeeding Parents

Bella Baby has been searching for the UK’s most breastfeeding-friendly city ahead of Mother’s Day 2022. 

According to the NHS, "Breastfeeding is a skill that takes time to get the hang of. Lots of mums wonder if their baby's feeding well and getting enough - especially in the first few days. But once you've mastered it, you'll probably find it's the easiest and most satisfying way to feed your baby. Apart from the fact that breast milk is tailor-made for your baby, contains vitamins and minerals and is always available, it also offers protection from certain infections and helps improve your baby's long-term health. Breastfeeding reduces the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), childhood diabetes and leukaemia." 

With that being said, many parents are still put off by this option because of the fear of doing it in public. Breastfeeding in public can mean breastfeeding in front of a relative or friend in your own home, or in a public place, such as a cafe or shopping centre. Most people support women breastfeeding in public, and is entirely legal anywhere in the UK. In fact, according to the Equality Act of 2010, treating a woman unfavourably because she is breastfeeding a child of any age is considered sex discrimination.

Therefore, the more it's done, the more normal it will become.

Read More: My Breastfeeding Story 

Using data collected from Tripadvisor and breastfeeding friendly schemes across the UK, we’ve found that Bangor, Gwynedd is the UK’s most friendly city for breastfeeding mums!

 

We've also found out the top 10 most breastfeeding-friendly UK cities based on online reviews and registered venues (for 2022):

City

Ranked: Most To Least

Trip Advisor Mentions (Positive)

Trip Advisor Mentions (Negative)

Registered Breastfeeding Friendly Listings*

Bangor

1

0

0

76

Newry

2

1

0

36

Armagh

3

0

0

15

Portsmouth

4

7

1

127

Belfast

5

8

2

203

Derry

6

0

0

65

City of London

7

24

11

75

St Asaph

8

2

0

0

Wells

9

0

0

1

Chichester

10

2

0

0

Caoimhe McGonagle, spokesperson for Bella Baby said, “Ahead of Mother’s Day 2022, we wanted to celebrate all mums - including those who are currently breastfeeding.”

“We were unsettled when we saw a 2015 report from Public Health England that revealed that a third of women feel embarrassed when breastfeeding in public, and because of this, we wanted to highlight and celebrate breastfeeding mums this year in order to break the stigma. We also wanted all women - including those who are currently breastfeeding - to feel comfortable out and about this Mother’s Day, “

“Finally, when conducting our study, we realised that there are hundreds of venues throughout the UK that are not currently registered to a breastfeeding-friendly scheme and have the facilities and designated areas for breastfeeding women. We hope by highlighting this that many of these venues will begin to display stickers on their doors and windows, along with information online to highlight their inclusion of breastfeeding mums.” 

Our study looked at all UK cities (including NI) and the full data set can be found here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HfsFOQJ_9TCOO31Ay9_NLaqIk2V4HnJLTkGyURVrIh0/edit?usp=sharing

 

Methodology

Bella Baby reviewed Trip Advisor to see all the positive and negative mentions of breastfeeding in each city of the UK. Each positive mention was awarded 1 point and each negative mention was awarded -1 point. Following this, we also found data via http://www.breastfeedingtogether.co.uk/breastfeedingfriendly/bfflistings/ for a list of registered breastfeeding-friendly venues in the UK. Again, each venue that was listed was awarded 1 point. We then combined our findings and worked out what the score was per 100,00 people to see which cities were at the top.

For more information on breastfeeding, and a list of all the accessories you will need, take a look here.

The NHS website also offers a wealth of knowledge, advice and support if you need it, please feel free to have a read here.