A MUM-of-four who got on her bike in a campaign to protect babies from swine flu has raised thousands of pounds for charity. Clair Davis went on a fundraising bike ride to Amsterdam to promote breastfeeding to help mums deal with predictions that a swine flu pandemic could be on its way back to East London

By Gemma Collins

A MUM-of-four who got on her bike in a campaign to protect babies from swine flu has raised thousands of pounds for charity.

Claire Davis went on a fundraising bike ride to Amsterdam to promote breastfeeding to help mums deal with predictions that a swine flu pandemic could be on its way back to East London

Breastfeeding could be a good way to help mums deal with predictions that a swine flu pandemic could be on its way back to East London this autumn.

The 39-year-old from Bow, a breastfeeding advisor for Tower Hamlets NHS, cycled 200 miles from East London to Amsterdam with her friend Jo Naylor to raise funds for the Breastfeeding Network.

Claire and Jo biked it to Harwich, caught the ferry to Hook in Holland, then set off through the sand-dunes past windmills to Amsterdam.

“We took the spectacular scenic route,” Claire recalls. “The only down’ side was that Dutch villages we passed through were entirely cobbled, which made us long for our next comfort’ stop.”

Claire may have raised �5,000 for the Breastfeeding Network which provides parents with independent support and information about infant feeding.

Health experts say breastfed babies are able to fight infection better than newborns fed on formula milk, as mothers’ antibodies pass through their breastmilk to help infant immunities.