Steeton'S Airedale Hospital has gained international recognition from UNICEF for its work promoting breast feeding.

The NHS trust has been awarded a certificate of commitment from the Baby Friendly Initiative, organised by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The certificate is the first step towards achieving full Baby Friendly status which is given to health care facilities that provide the best standards of care for mothers and babies.

The award was presented yesterday (Thursday) at Steeton Hall by Andrew Radford, UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative Director. The event also marked National Breastfeeding week, which started on Monday.

The hospital had to fulfil certain criteria to get the certificate, including writing a breastfeeding policy, allowing 'rooming-in' so that mothers and infants remain together 24 hours a day, helping to establish breastfeeding support groups and referring mothers to them when they left hospital.

It has taken two years to meet these standards and the hospital now has another two years to work towards full "Baby Friendly Status".

During the week, the health benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and baby were highlighted.

According to NHS statistics, breast feeding for at least the first three or four months means many of the mothers' defence system against bugs and infections are passed on and the baby has fewer stomach upsets and less diarrhoea.

The baby is also less likely to have an ear or chest infection, develop eczema or wheezing and is less likely to become obese or develop diabetes.

For the mother, there are advantages too. Breastfeeding mothers tend to lose weight more quickly and are at less risk of getting pre-menopausal breast cancer.

Life is often a bit easier too with babies unlikely to get constipation, nappies that do not smell so much, and milk at the right temperature wherever you go.

Officials from UNICEF wrote: "Each year 75,000 mothers stop breastfeeding in the first postnatal week but only one per cent say that this is how long they want to breastfeed for.

"The reasons given for stopping by the great majority relate to problems which could be avoided or solved, if they were better supported. In fact, more than 80 per cent of mothers who give up breastfeeding before four months say they would have liked to have breastfed longer."

Ann Hodson, clinical midwifery manager at Airedale Hospital said: "We want to support mothers to enable them to make informed decisions. During breastfeeding week we wanted to send the message to all mothers that breastfeeding is definitely the best choice for them and their babies.

"We decided to join forces with UNICEF to improve practices and increase breastfeeding rates."