People seek NHS advice on drinking and breastfeeding at Christmas
NHS websites saw the highest increase in visits to information about drinking while breastfeeding last Christmas, new figures show.
The most visited pages for Christmas and Boxing Day 2023 include advice on coughs, colds and chest infections.
But some people want to know Drinking alcohol and breastfeedingAlcoholism and rabies, NHS England said.
Burns and Scald page views and how to treat them also increased.
In terms of health, most viewed page after Covid-19 is winter vomiting norovirus The 2023 festival had 19,170 visits within 48 hours.
Some 17,398 other visits (approximately one every 10 seconds) were for chest infections, while the page about diarrhea and vomiting had 11,789 views.
Overall views of pages related to breastfeeding and drinking on the NHS website fell, but increased by 146% compared to the week before Christmas, from 1,028 to 2,526.
The NHS advises that alcohol passes into your breast milk and then into your baby when you feed her.
An occasional drink is unlikely to harm your baby, especially if you wait at least two hours after a drink before feeding, it adds, but warns: “Regularly drinking more than the recommended limit may be harmful to you and your baby harmful.”
The number of people seeking relevant information also increased by 60% alcohol poisoning Clicks increased from 1,268 to 2,008 during the holiday period compared to a normal 48 hours.
and access related pages Animal and human bites That increased by one-third, from 1,128 to 1,494.
Clicks on rabies pages on the NHS increased by 123% over Christmas to 1,564, compared with 700 a week earlier.
Page views on burns and scalds and how to treat them increased from 1,782 to 2,748 compared to the week before Christmas.
Professor Stephen Powis, NHS medical director, said accidents and injuries can happen and help and information is available 24/7 on the NHS website and NHS app.
“So if you get burned when putting a roast potato in the oven, or you have a winter virus and need some support to manage your symptoms, the NHS website is the best place to find helpful advice.”
He said NHS staff will be working hard throughout the festive period to provide care to those who need it most.
Anyone needing urgent help should contact 999, or 111 for less urgent health needs.
