The Infant Nutrition Council today offered its support for the Federal Government’s Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy 2010-2015.

The Council’s CEO Jan Carey agreed that breastmilk provided the best nutrition for infants.

“The Infant Nutrition Council recognises that breastmilk is the normal way to feed a baby and is important for baby’s health”, Ms Carey said. “We commend the Strategy’s coordinated and evidenced based approach to increasing breastfeeding rates in Australia.”

The Strategy, which was endorsed by State and Territory Health Ministers on Friday, provides a framework for priorities and action for all governments to address the protection, promotion, support and monitoring of breastfeeding throughout Australia.

But while Ms Carey welcomed the far-reaching Strategy, she said the Government failed to provide important nutritional information on breastmilk substitutes to mothers who can’t or choose not to breastfeed.

“When a baby is not being breastfed a lack of important nutritional information for the mother could result in poor or unsafe food choices for the baby – such as inappropriate breastmilk substitutes,” she said.

“We believe that the promotion of breastfeeding and the provision of information about infant formula need not be mutually exclusive.”

The Infant Nutrition Council supports both breastfeeding and infant formula and represents the major companies manufacturing, importing and marketing their own brands of infant formulas in Australia.

For more information on the Government’s Breastfeeding Strategy see Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy 2010-2015