MOTHER Knows Breast is the message - and name - of a new group for Tidworth and Ludgershall, which runs a drop-in centre for breastfeeding mums every Thursday.

As this is National Breastfeeding Awareness Week, the group - run by breastfeeding mums to encourage and support other mums and mums-to-be to opt for breast over bottle - has issued an open invitation to drop in this morning to find out more about the benefits of breastfeeding.

The Mother Knows Breast drop-in meets every Thursday at the Ashdown centre, behind Station Road, Tidworth, between 12.30pm and 2pm.

A specialist health visitor, a midwife and a qualified breastfeeding counsellor from the National Childbirth Trust support the group.

Mother Knows Breast's Sharon Weinstein says that breastfeeding rates in Tidworth and Ludgershall are among the lowest in Wiltshire, which is why the peer support scheme was set up.

"We hope to encourage mums-to-be to try to breastfeed and to support mums already doing so," she says.