What women say about how breastfeeding affects their body image: Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock The benefits of breastfeeding are well known – but the UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. The WHO recommends that babies should be exclusively breastfed up to the age of six months (when they can start having food in …
How autistic parents feel about breastfeeding and the support they receive – new research: Almost half the study's respondents found breastfeeding to be a positive experience most or all of the time. Lolostock/Shutterstock Surprisingly little is still known about autism and breastfeeding. A few years ago, we reviewed all of the research evidence and found …
Breastfeeding increased during the pandemic but what does that tell us about how to improve rates?: SeventyFour/Shutterstock During the pandemic, there had been concerns from healthcare professionals that the restrictions placed on daily life would lead to a disruption in breastfeeding. But our new research shows that the number of women who continued to exclusively …
Breastfeeding linked to higher GCSE results: how to understand the nuance behind the numbers – and the lack of support for parents: kryzhov/Shutterstock Recently published research has found a link between breastfeeding for longer and higher GCSE grades. We know from previous research that across a whole population, breastfeeding can help support health and development. …
Three Impressionist paintings that give an insight into the complicated history of breastfeeding in the 19th century: Wikimedia The history of breastfeeding reveals uncomfortable truths about women, work and money. An unlikely place where the history of nursing is clearly visible is in Impressionist paintings. Although the art of Manet and his followers is best …
Parents can feel pressured to stop breastfeeding their baby – here’s how to cope: Anita Patterson Peppers/Shutterstock Becoming a parent comes with all sorts of questions and pressures. One of the most important decisions for new parents to make is how they are going to feed their baby – whether to breastfeed, bottle feed, or …
Breastfeeding beyond infancy can be beneficial for children and parents – mothers explain pressure they feel to stop: Tomsickova Tatyana/Shutterstock Breastfeeding beyond infancy is recommended by the World Health Organization, which advises that children should be breastfed until two years old. For children, breastfeeding for longer is associated with reduced infections, a lower chance of …
Breastfeeding is tough: new research shows how to make it more manageable: Jacob Lund/Shutterstock The benefits of breastfeeding are wide-ranging and life-changing. Breast milk contains antibodies that reduce the risk of asthma, allergies, diarrhoea and ear infections. Breastfed infants are hospitalised less frequently than infants who are not. In later life, breastfed children and less …
Breastfeeding trends show most developing countries may miss global nutrition targets: Exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months makes more difference to a baby's health and survival than any other intervention. GettyImages Exclusive breastfeeding, the practice of giving only breast milk (no other food or water), is the ideal for an infant’s first six months. …
What’s missing in South Africa’s strategy to get breastfeeding levels up: Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/GettyImages This year marks the 40th anniversary of the International Code for the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. This was a landmark policy framework designed to stop commercial interests from discouraging breastfeeding and hence endangering the health and nutrition of the world’s …
Community initiative keeps Kenyan women breastfeeding exclusively for longer: Kenyan women march towards a restaurant after a female client was allegedly thrown out for breastfeeding and not covering up. Photo credit should read SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Images Exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months, as recommended by the World Health Organisation, is vital for …
Why COVID makes it more important than ever that pregnant (and breastfeeding) women take vitamin D: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock Vitamin D, often known as the “sunshine vitamin”, is normally obtained through exposure of our skin to the sun. The Department of Health recommends that everyone in the UK should take a supplement of vitamin D during the …
Why many South African mothers give up breastfeeding their babies so soon: A lot is still uncertain about breastfeeding practices in South Africa. GettyImages Breast milk plays a vital role in reducing child mortality. It has all the nutrients a baby needs in the first six months of life and its health benefits extend into …
Breastfeeding during lockdown: how coronavirus had a devastating impact on some new families: Researchers asked over 1,200 women about their experiences with breastfeeding during lockdown. Prostock-studio/ Shutterstock Becoming a parent is challenging at the best of times – but the COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdown measures have intensified this. Many new parents have had to …
Breastfeeding can help tackle climate crisis but it’s on governments, not mums to save the world: shutterstock/SeventyFour In the midst of debates about how to best tackle the climate crisis, breastfeeding was recently highlighted as a significant way women can help to make a difference. But while there is no doubt of the important role …
Six ways the world has empowered and enabled breastfeeding: mrvirgin/Shutterstock In an ideal world, the value of breastfeeding would go uncontested, and mothers would be supported to do it in all places and spaces. But unfortunately this is not the case. Even in the UK, a country which is so progressive in other health areas, …
Lessons from Kenya on how to boost breastfeeding rates: A mother breastfeeds her baby Flickr/Dominic Chavez/World Bank Kenya has, over the past two decades, made tremendous achievements in promoting breastfeeding. The number of babies who were exclusively breastfed rose from just 13% in 2003 to about 61% in 2014. This was achieved largely because of …
Breastfeeding isn’t just about the baby – women’s bodies matter too: Breastfeeding is not something women simply choose to do, it is an instinct, a biological imperative. Tomsickova Tatyana/Shutterstock Women are increasingly opening up about their breastfeeding struggles. However, as individual as each story is, many have a core theme – it wasn’t working and …