New mothers in the area have one of the lowest rates in the country of breastfeeding their babies, according to new figures released by the HSE to AIMS Ireland.
The figures found that only 37.5% of babies born in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in 2012 were exclusively breastfed. This was the fourth lowest figure in the country after the Mid-Western Regional Maternity Hospital in Limerick (32.1%) and Sligo (33.4%) and Letterkenny (33.8%) General Hospitals.
When it came to any sort of breastfeeding, just 47.6% of babies born in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital received some form of feeding from the breast.
Again, this was the fourth lowest rate in the country after Limerick (38.0%), Letterkenny (40.3%) and Sligo (47.5%).
