National Breastfeeding week is being recognised by experts in neonatal care, mother and infant health, and nutrition from across Scotland.

They are calling for a "change in the conversation" around breastfeeding, with more than 30 signatories endorsing a statement focusing on the need to shift the culture around breastfeeding and offer more support.

Professor of Mother and Infant Health at the University of Dundee and one of the authors of the document, Mary Renfrew, said: "National Breastfeeding Week is an important opportunity to reflect on whether we are all doing enough to enable women to breastfeed and what we could do better.

"There are significant and substantive differences between breastfeeding and not breastfeeding in regard to health and development outcomes, for both the baby and the mother.

"However, we know breastfeeding can be hard for women to do. A new way of enabling breastfeeding is needed - one that tackles the societal barriers that individual women cannot tackle alone and creates a shift in the prevailing culture and attitudes to breastfeeding.

"This should be put in place in a planned and coordinated way by decision-makers with funding, influence, authority and accountability, rather than relying on women's own determination, the motivation of health professionals, and the work of voluntary organisations alone.

"This will require a coordinated cross-sectoral strategy that engages everyone in the conversations needed to create a positive environment for women, babies and families in Scotland."