Although many breastfeeding peer support projects have been initiated, evaluating their cost-effectiveness is difficult as a result of a paucity of data and relevant literature. However, from a review of the limited data it can be shown that breastfeeding peer support programmes can, by increasing the number of babies who are breastfed, make significant savings to the NHS. Other areas that could offer long-term savings to the NHS, but have not been fully analysed, include potential reductions in pre-menopausal cancers in mothers who have breastfed, childhood obesity, urinary tract infections and necrotizing enterocolitis. Consideration of the value-added benefits that peer support workers offer to the mothers and the community highlights the special value of breastfeeding peer support programmes.

The Department of Health has expressed concern over the decline in the breastfeeding rate for many decades. When reviewing recent government figures it can be argued that, since 1985 there has been a further decline in the breastfeeding initiation rates. People in lower socioeconomic groups have been shown to have the poorest initiation rate. Programmes have demonstrated that breastfeeding peer support can reverse this trend and, as a consequence, the Sheffield-based Sure Start Foxhill and Parson Cross groups initiated peer support through the Breastfeeding is Best Supporters (BIBS) project. It was considered that a major way that the success of the project could be judged would be by looking for improvements in breastfeeding rates. This task proved problematic due to uncoordinated collation of infant feeding data in the project area – an issue that requires urgent attention.