Key Points Electric pumps are not necessarily more effective than manual pumps or hand expression. Pumped milk volume can be increased with low cost interventions such as listening to music, relaxation, warming or massaging the breast, frequent pumping and starting…
Key Points Optimal birth spacing is essential to the health of mothers and children. The suppression of ovulation contributes to birth spacing. Return of menses and fecundity are affected by lactation (exclusivity and duration) and maternal energy balance. At the…
Key Points LGBTQ+families may have unique experiences in providing human milk for their infants. LGBTQ+individuals may face particular barriers related to their ability to provide human milk for their infants related to discriminatory policies, restricted donor milk regulations, or anatomic/functional…
Key Points Induced lactation is the process through which a nonpuerperal woman is stimulated to breastfeed an infant without a preceding pregnancy. Relactation is when a woman who has given birth but stopped breastfeeding or never initially breastfed is stimulated…
Key Points Although it is not easy, mothers need not make any choice between their employment and the optimal nutrition of their infant through breastfeeding. As women’s role in the workplace continues to assert itself, employers and policy makers must…
Key Points The prevalence of allergy is increasing across the world, and asthma is the most common chronic disease in children. The exact role of genetics and epigenetics in the development of allergy are being explored with newer research techniques.…
Key Points The breast is a complex organ with growth, evolution, and regression over life. Its functional capacity changes dramatically throughout pregnancy and lactation. Many benign and malignant conditions affect the breast in general, and some conditions occur specifically during…
Key Points Lactation is a two-person system, and breastfeeding both affects and is affected by the mother’s physiology. Both acute maternal health conditions and chronic disorders may have an impact on the mother–baby dyad. Often, the mother’s acute health condition…
Key Points Mother’s own milk, appropriately fortified, is the standard for feeding premature infants. Provision of mother’s own milk for hospitalized premature infants provides short- and long-term health benefits. Neonatal providers play an important role supporting lactation in the neonatal…
Key Points Infants with special problems may require procedures, surgeries, or hospitalization to maintain and optimize their health or development. Breastfeeding and breast-milk feeding should be protected throughout these interruptions in an infant’s health routine because human milk may offer…