BOLTON’S health experts are backing a ‘chatbot’ which will help more women to breastfeed.

Nearly half of new mum’s in Bolton are not breastfeeding after just two weeks, while more than 61 percent of the town’s infants turn to bottle feeding after eight weeks.

The UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world and a national campaign is now hoping to convince more women that breast is best.

Public Health England (PHE) has launched the Start4Life Breastfeeding Friend (BFF), a new interactive chatbot —a computer program that mimics conversation with people using artificial intelligence — to help guide new mums through their first weeks of breastfeeding.

The bot can be accessed through Facebook messenger and works as a live chat tool via one-to-one messages and notifications.

Experts in Bolton believe using the social media chat service could help reach more women in the borough.

Sara Blakeway is the infant feeding co-ordinator for Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, based at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

She said: “We’ve had leaflets, booklets, and classes for many many decades, so doing something new and fresh to getting enough information out there can only be a good thing.

“People are used to searching online or talking to people on Facebook so we should use it to help get the right information out there and help reach mother’s who are looking for help.

“Of Bolton births 68.7 percent of women start breastfeeding. That is quite a good figure compared to Greater Manchester but the national average is 81 percent.

“The numbers breastfeeding have slowly increased over the last five years and we have put a lot of effort in to do so.

“Women stop breastfeeding for a variety of reasons, sometimes they run into difficulty but there is help available.

“Historically quite a number of families have chosen not to breastfeed if they come from families where women have bot breastfed.”

Bolton’s antenatal and postnatal service has been working hard to ensure women get the right advise and guidance on feeding their newborn with both support at the hospital and in the community.

BFF offers additional support, giving mums 24 hours a day, seven days a week access to expert NHS-trusted advice in a friendly and familiar way, providing clarity around breastfeeding barriers, which are often misconceptions, and helping to alleviate any concerns mums may have.

The tool free to access and can offer guidance and answer questions that are concerning parents of babies

PHE believes breastfeeding rates suggest that many women who start breastfeeding feel that they cannot continue beyond six to eight weeks, with evidence showing that getting the right support enables mums to breastfeed for longer.

For more information, advice and tips on breastfeeding visit www.nhs.uk/start4life.

To access the Breastfeeding BFF, open Facebook Messenger and search Start4Life BreastFeeding Friend or visit m.me/Start4LifeBreastFeedingFriend to get started.