Breastfeeding

Many women choose to breastfeed their babies due to the significant health benefits provided over infant formula for both baby and mother. Any amount of breastfeeding has positive effects and the longer a child is breastfed for, the longer the health benefits will last for both baby and mother.

What is Breastfeeding?

Breast milk from the mother, or another lactating mother (in case of unwilling mothers and royalty), has nourished, protected and helped raise babies since time immemorial. Like all mammals humans possess mammary glands for the purpose of feeding their infants before they are ready for food from other sources.

Breastfeeding Questions

When Should I Not Breastfeed My Baby?

Breastfeeding and Diet

Breastfeeding and Allergies

Breastfeeding: Smoking, Drugs and Alcohol

Breastfeeding and Medications

What are the Health Benefits of Breastfeeding?

Sleeping Close to Baby

Breastfeeding, Preparing for Arrival

How do I Manage Breastfeeding and Work?

Breastfeeding Pumps

See more featured articles »

Breast Anatomy

Breastfeeding and Hormones

Breastfeeding Tips

What is Breast Compression?

Correct Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding and Vitamin D

Breastfeeding Around Family

Breastfeeding and Jaundice

Breastfeeding and Reflux

Breastfeeding and Cleft Palate, Cleft Lip

Breastfeeding Twins or Multiples

Breastfeeding During Pregnancy

Breastfeeding after Breast Surgery

Breastfeeding Inducing Lactation

Storing Breast Milk

What is a Galactocele?

Overactive Let-Down (OALD) Reflex

Smoking and Breastfeeding

Latest Breastfeeding News and Research

SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in breast milk: Study

A new study published on the medRxiv* preprint server explores the presence of immunoglobulin (Ig) antibodies IgA and IgG against SARS-CoV-2 in breast milk secreted by women with confirmed infection. The scientists also delineated the specific antigens targeted by the antibodies.

26 Jul 2021

Report highlights global shortfalls to end HIV infections among children and young women

In the final report from the Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS Free initiative, UNAIDS and partners warn that progress towards ending AIDS among children, adolescents and young women has stalled and none of the targets for 2020 were met.

23 Jul 2021

Occasional breastfeeding shown to improve cardiac and vascular health in babies, with long-lasting benefits

New research shows that 3-year-old toddlers had lower blood pressure when they were breastfed as babies in comparison to ones that weren’t.

19 Jul 2021

Messenger RNA vaccines against COVID-19 not found in breast milk

Messenger RNA vaccines against COVID-19 were not detected in human milk, according to a small study by UC San Francisco, providing early evidence that the vaccine mRNA is not transferred to the infant.

16 Jul 2021

Bacteroides-dominant gut microbiome linked with advanced cognition and language skills in infant boys

The University of Alberta-led research followed more than 400 infants from the CHILD Cohort Study (CHILD) at its Edmonton site. Boys with a gut bacterial composition that was high in the bacteria Bacteroidetes at one year of age were found to have more advanced cognition and language skills one year later. The finding was specific to male children.

13 Jul 2021

Preliminary study shows no need to cease breastfeeding following COVID-19 vaccination

A new study of 13 breastfeeding mothers has shown that components from the COVID-19 vaccine were not found in any breastmilk.

6 Jul 2021

Study examines safety of COVID-19 vaccination during lactation

A new preprint, recently released on the medRxiv* server, reports from real life in a cohort of mother-child dyads in Singapore. The mothers were lactating after having received COVID-19 vaccination.

25 Jun 2021

NIH begins study to evaluate how pregnant, postpartum people react to COVID-19 vaccines

A new observational study has begun to evaluate the immune responses generated by COVID-19 vaccines administered to pregnant or postpartum people.

23 Jun 2021

Study shows a robust immune response to COVID-19 vaccine in breastfeeding health workers

A recent study by researchers from Poland, published in the journal Vaccines, shows how levels of IgA and IgG antibodies specific to the spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 increase in both breast milk and serum samples of mothers following vaccination against COVID-19 – with important implications for further vaccine planning endeavors.

21 Jun 2021

Benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the complications, long-term effects of the disease

An international study, headed by Antonio Hernández, Professor of the Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology of the University of Granada, has reviewed the assessment reports of the European Medicines Agency regarding the Coronavirus vaccines produced by Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca.

21 Jun 2021

Study shows how epigenetic factors modulate the risk of type 1 diabetes

Genetics plays a major role in determining a person’s risk of developing type 1 diabetes, but environmental and lifestyle factors are also important. In an article recently published in Chinese Medical Journal, a team of researchers explore the interplay of genetic and environmental factors by summarizing the literature on type 1 diabetes and epigenetics—the study of how gene expression patterns can be modified.

18 Jun 2021

Study shows link between breast milk, gut bacteria, and development of the immune system

Many diseases caused by a dysregulated immune system, such as allergies, asthma and autoimmunity, can be traced back to events in the first few months after birth.

17 Jun 2021

Using natural killers from the immune system to target breast cancer cells

It sounds like a plot from a Quentin Tarantino movie -- something sets off natural killers and sends them on a killing spree.

16 Jun 2021

Promoting infant healthy feeding practices can result in lower consumption of fats, carbohydrates later

Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Brazil found that when health workers were trained to promote infant healthy feeding practices to pregnant women their children consumed less fats and carbohydrates at 3 years of age and had lower measures of body fat at the age of 6.

1 Jun 2021

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine may not be associated with adverse effects on fertility and breastfeeding, says study

A recent study by researchers in Singapore shows the absence of evidence for adverse effects on fertility or the presence of the vaccine mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) in breast milk, following the administration of the Pfizer BNT162B2 COVID-19 vaccine. This supports efforts to prevent the spread of false information about the effects of the vaccine.

27 May 2021

New study launched to understand COVID impact on mental health in parents and babies

The COVID-19 pandemic turned the lives of many all over the world upside down. Nowhere has this been more obvious than the interactions between parents and children, beginning during pregnancy, over the past year of the pandemic. A new study from Oxford and Cambridge in the UK will explore the reality of changes in this area, and how they have impacted early human development.

26 May 2021

Do vaccinations result in anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in human milk?

The aim of this study investigates the impact of different types of vaccines on the anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immunoglobulin A (IgA) and Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody levels found in human milk.

25 May 2021

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines safe and effective for pregnant and breastfeeding women

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought untold devastation in its wake, with its rapid and asymptomatic spread to hundreds of millions of people the world over. Vaccines have been hailed as the way out of this situation, and a dozen or so are being rolled out in many different countries.

18 May 2021

Breastfeeding safe and beneficial in SARS-CoV-2 infection

\With the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, hundreds of millions of people became infected worldwide, including thousands of pregnant women near term. The question of vertical transmission to the infant via the placenta or breast milk was very real, leading to a near-total ban on breastfeeding in this group.

17 May 2021