Key Points Untrained health professionals contribute to poor breastfeeding outcomes the world over. Training the health care work force, especially providers, is an important component of any breastfeeding initiative. Because of the lack of training, personal experiences influence a provider’s…
Key Points Breastfeeding success requires support for the mother from individuals, groups, and organizations. Peer breastfeeding support is important in any of its forms—personal, group, and professional (e.g., lactation consultants). The needs of breastfeeding mothers and their families call for…
Key Points Breastfeeding is unique in medicine as a process that occurs at the juncture of (at least) two interdependent physiologies, those of the lactating parent and of the child. Although much can be known about lactation by all types…
Key Points The care and feeding of infants and young children after any disaster is an important priority, because they are vulnerable as a result of their total dependence on adults for survival. Breastfeeding is the recommended way to feed…
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.…