A VIDEO has been produced to encourage mothers to breastfeed their babies.

The Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Health Care NHS Trust has produced the film as part of National Breastfeeding Week, from May 14.

The video is available in English, Urdu, Gujerati, and Bengali. It was produced in these languages after many Asian women found English brochures on breastfeeding difficult to read.

The trust thought making a video would be a fun way of educating mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding, rather than re-printing the leaflets.

Midwives and nurses from Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn, appear in the 10-minute film, which mothers will be able to borrow during pregnancy check-ups. The film emphasises that mothers and babies receive natural protection from illnesses by breast feeding, such as stomach and ear infections, allergies, diabetes and cancer.

Christine Hindle, midwife manager, said: "This video will help improve practices and increase breastfeeding rates. We want to help mothers make informed decisions."

The video will be launched on May 11 at Jan's Conference Centre, Higher Audley Street, Blackburn. Special guest will be Rahila Bano, North West Reporter for the BBC Asian Network.

The Blackburn with Darwen PCT and the CommuniCare NHS Trust also helped produce the video.