Mothers might not breastfeed after taking £200 NHS bribe, MP warns If you give people vouchers what are they going to spend them on? Are they going spend it on nicer food for their kids, or maybe are they going to spend it on booze and fags? While studies have shown mothers who breastfeed have healthier babies, Ms Leslie suggested this was because they are also more likely to be better informed on nutrition and how to care for their babies. Giving a cash incentive to "tick a box" of breastfeeding is unlikely to address underlying problems with children's development, she suggested. "The reasons why women don't breastfeed are far more complex than this gives credit for - bribing women doesn't tackle that, it just encourages them to take the money," she said. My gut reaction is it sounds a very odd study. I'm not sure it's a brilliant use of public money. It doesn't seem to me it reaches scientific requirements for a rigorous study. Should mothers be given vouchers to encourage them to breastfeed? If the pilots appear to increase breastfeeding rates, and schemes are judged to be "socially acceptable," a national trial will begin next year, and could then be rolled out across the country.