A NEW online device has been launched to help guide new mums through their first weeks of breastfeeding.

Start4Life Breastfeeding Friend gives women 24/7 access to expert advice to alleviate their fears.

The chatbot works as a live chat tool via one-to-one messaging and can be accessed through Facebook.

Dr Rebecca Wagstaff, deputy director, health and wellbeing, Public Health England north west said: “Not everyone can attend a local breastfeeding group so the Start4Life Breastfeeding Friend is a great tool that is free, quick and easy to use and can offer guidance and answer questions that are concerning parents of babies.”

Almost three quarters of women start breastfeeding when their baby is born but most give up.

In Halton almost 80 per cent of babies are not breastfed by the time they are six to eight weeks old.

New Runcorn mum Emma Blinkhorn knows just how difficult it can be after she struggled to breastfeed her daughter.

She said: “When Lily-May was born she latched very quickly and I was over the moon.

“I naively didn’t realise how long she would feed for and that she would feed on and off all day and night.

“I really wanted to persevere even though I found it really hard. In the first week I couldn’t feed without screaming in pain, I developed mastitis and for a while she refused to feed from one side so the infant feeding team supported me to learn how to express and make sure she fed from both sides using different holds and positions.

“If I had been left on my own I would not have continued through the first weekend. I would have given up most definitely”

Emma said she had ‘brilliant support’ from the Halton infant feeding team who helped her to persevere.

“I can completely understand why a lot of women don’t continue to breastfeed,” she said. “It’s extremely hard and you think it’s only you that is finding it hard.”

Emma wants to encourage other mums not to give up.

“My advice for others is find out more about breastfeeding,” she said. “Get to a breastfeeding support group. I’ve been attending a weekly group and that has been invaluable.

“We’ve now become good friends and we keep in touch. Odds on, if you’re feeding at 2am and having a problem, someone else will be also that you can talk to.

“Now I think it’s the best thing ever. It’s amazing. Breastfeeding has made me feel so bonded with my little girl.”

Breastfeeding boosts a baby’s ability to fight illness and infections. It also lowers a mother’s risk of ovarian and breast cancer and burns around 500 calories a day.

To access the new chatbot open Facebook Messenger and search Start4Life BreastFeeding Friend or visit m.me/Start4LifeBreastFeedingFriend.

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