Study finds overweight mums likely to give up breastfeeding within the first week

A new study has found overweight mothers are highly likely to stop breastfeeding their newborn within the first week, the Daily Mail reported.

Experts urge mothers to breastfeed their babies for the first six months of their life. However, researchers from the London School of Economics and the University of Auckland, found a large number of mothers, who have a BMI of over 25, give up feeding the 'natural' way within the first seven days.

For the study, researchers examined data of close to 17,000 mothers. The results showed 26% of overweight mother gave up compared to the 8% of healthy weight mums.

Body image issues or difficulty in producing milk could be some of the reasons women choose to stop.

Lead author of the study Dr Tammy Campbell told the Daily Mail: "We speculate a substantial proportion of overweight women are likely to want to breastfeed – but have more difficulty doing so."

Adding, "We would like to emphasise, though, that this support really does need to be good quality – practical and sensitive, for those who want it."

The need to get more women to breastfeed is important as breast milk contains antibodies, which helps strengthen baby's immune system in order to tackle infections and viruses.

The findings were originally published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.