Skip to Main Content
Skip Nav Destination

Pediatric Collections: Breastfeeding: Support Challenges and Benefits

Breastfeeding is a health care intervention of profound significance. Optimal breastfeeding practices, defined as exclusive breastfeeding through 6 months of age followed by continued breastfeeding with introduction of solid foods, save lives. Worldwide, in children 0–23 months, careful meta-analysis demonstrates a significantly decreased mortality rate with dose response in both all-cause and infection-related mortality among infants and children who received recommended breastfeeding, compared to those who received partial or no breastfeeding. Mothers benefit from optimal breastfeeding practices too, and recent analysis of data from high-, middle-, and low-income countries shows that universal optimal breastfeeding could prevent 20,000 deaths due to breast cancer (breastfeeding has been clearly shown to decrease risk of breast cancer in a dose-related manner). Breastfeeding may be the least expensive yet most cost-effective health intervention known.
Keriann Schulkers Escalante, MD; Jennifer Barnard, MD; Erika Clemens; Ruth Hammer, MSN; Cindy Ritter; Kimberly J. Ko, MD; Jacquelyn Wood; Stephanie Freeman; Julie Cooke, MPH; Katherine Weiss, MD; Sandra L. Leibel, MD, MS
Melissa Diaz, MD; Eric K. Zwemer, MD; Alison Sweeney, MD
Lori Feldman-Winter, MD, MPH; Ann Kellams, MD
Rita Wang, MD; Neha S. Anand, MD, MPH; Heather E. Hsu, MD, MPH
Luis Seoane Estruel, MS; Tatiana Andreyeva, PhD
Stephanie P. Gilley, MD, PhD; Maya Bunik, MD, MPH
Fern R. Hauck, MD, MS; Rachel Y. Moon, MD; Stephen M. Kerr, MPH; Michael J. Corwin, MD; Timothy Heeren, PhD; Eve Colson, MD, MHPE; Margaret G. Parker, MD, MPH; Ann Kellams, MD
Adi Noiman, PhD, MS; Christie Kim, BS; Jian Chen, MS; Laurie D. Elam-Evans, PhD; Heather C. Hamner, PhD, MS, MPH; Ruowei Li, MD, PhD
Jennifer Thomas, MD, MPH, FAAP; Maya Bunik, MD, MPH, FAAP; Alison Holmes, MD, MPH, FAAP; Martha Ann Keels, DDS, PhD; Brenda Poindexter, MD, MS, FAAP; Anna Meyer, MD, FAAP; Alison Gilliland, MD, FAAP; SECTION ON BREASTFEEDING; Sahira Long, MD, IBCLC, FAAP, FABM; Monica Richter, MD, PhD, IBCLC, FAAP, FABM; Emily Hannon, MD, IBCLC, FAAP; Ann Kellams, MD, IBCLC, FAAP, FABM; Tara Williams, MD, FAAP, FABM; Lori Feldman-Winter, MD, MPH, FAAP, FABM; Sharon Mass, MD, FACOG; Larry Noble, MD, FAAP, FABM; Rose St. Fleur, MD, FAAP, FABM, IBCLC; Lisa Stellwagen, MD, FAAP; Jennifer Thomas, MD, MPH, IBCLC, FAAP, FABM; Joan Younger Meek, MD, MS, RD, FAAP, FABM, IBCLC; Mary O’Connor, MD, MPH, FAAP; Julie Ware, MD, MPH, FAAP, FABM, IBCLC; Kera Beskin, MPH, MBA; Ngozi Onyema-Melton, MPH, CHES; SECTION ON ORAL HEALTH; Jeffrey M. Karp, DMD, MS; Eric Beyer, MD, FAAP; Chevon Brooks, MD, FAAP; C. Eve Kimball, MD, FAAP; Anupama Rao Tate, DMD, MPH; Lauren Feldman, DMD, MPH; Matt Zaborowski, MPH, CPH; Matt Crespin, MPH, RDH; Amr Moursi, DDS, PhD; Kera Beskin, MPH, MBA; COUNCIL ON QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND PATIENT SAFETY; Ulfat Shaikh, MD, FAAP; Francisco Javier Alvarez, MD, FAAP; John Chuo, MD, FAAP; Meghan Drayton Jackson, DO, FAAP; Julia M. Kim, MD, FAAP; Mary Beth Miotto, MD, FAAP; Raina Paul, MD, FAAP; Corinna Rea, MD, FAAP; Sandra Spencer, MD, FAAP; Amy Tyler, MD, FAAP; Joyee Vachani, MD, FAAP; Cathleen Guch, MPH; COMMITTEE ON FETUS & NEWBORN; Eric Eichenwald, MD; Namasivayam Ambalavanan, MD; Charleta Guillory, MD; Mark Hudak, MD; David Kaufman, MD; Camilia Martin, MD; Ashley Lucke, MD; Margaret Parker, MD; Arun Pramanik, MD; Kelly Wade, MD; Timothy Jancelewicz, MD; Michael Narvey, MD; Russell Miller, MD; Wanda Barfield, MD, MPH; Lisa Grisham, APRN, NNP-BC; Jim Couto, MA; SECTION ON OTOLARYNGOLOGY-HEAD AND NECK SURGERY; Jeffrey Philip Simons, MD, FAAP; Steven E. Sobol, MD, FAAP; Kavita Dedhia, MD, FAAP; Thomas Gallagher, DO, FAAP; Peggy Elaine Kelley, MD, FAAP; Pamela Anne Mudd, MD, MBA, FAAP; Samuel Ostrower, MD, FAAP; Eileen Margolies Raynor, MD, FAAP; Brian Kip Reilly, MD, FAAP; Alanna Windsor, MD, FAAP; Vivian B. Thorne
Heidi Szugye, DO, NABBLM-C, IBCLC, FAAP; Esha Ghosalkar, BS; Sarah Leluga, DO, FAAP; Suet Kam Lam, MD, IBCLC, MPH, MS, FAAP
Lisa Abuogi, MD, MS, FAAP; Lawrence Noble, MD, FAAP; Christiana Smith, MD, MS, FAAP; COMMITTEE ON PEDIATRIC AND ADOLESCENT HIV; Natella Yurievna Rakhmanina, MD, PhD, FAAP; Lisa Abuogi, MD, MS, FAAP; Susan Gillespie, MD, PhD; Anne Neilan, MD, MPH, FAAP; Rosemary Olivero, MD, FAAP; Carina A. Rodriguez, MD, FAAP; Julia Rosebush, DO, FAAP; George Siberry, MD, MPH, FAAP; Steven Nesheim, MD; Bill G. Kapogiannis, MD, FIDSA; Athena P. Kourtis, MD, PhD, MPH, FAAP; Heather Stob; SECTION ON BREASTFEEDING; Lori Feldman-Winter, MD, MPH, FAAP, FABM; Maya Bunik, MD, MSPH, FAAP, FABM; Sahira Long, MD, IBCLC, FAAP, FABM; Monica Richter, MD, PhD, IBCLC, FAAP, FABM; Emily Hannon, MD, IBCLC, FAAP; Ann Kellams, MD, IBCLC, FAAP, FABM; Sharon Mass, MD, FACOG; Lawrence Noble, MD, FAAP, FABM; Rose St. Fleur, MD, FAAP, FABM, IBCLC; Lisa Stellwagen, MD, FAAP; Jennifer Thomas, MD, MPH, IBCLC, FAAP, FABM; Joan Younger Meek, MD, MS, RD, FAAP, FABM, IBCLC; Kera Beskin, MPH, MBA
Jennifer E. Lane, MD; Byron A. Foster, MD, MPH
Gayle M. Shipp, PhD, RDN; Adaeze C. Wosu, PhD; Emily A. Knapp, PhD; Katherine A. Sauder, PhD; Dana Dabelea, MD, PhD; Wei Perng, PhD, MPH; Yeyi Zhu, PhD; Assiamira Ferrara, MD, PhD; Anne L. Dunlop, MD, MPH; Sean Deoni, PhD; James Gern, MD; Christy Porucznik, PhD, MSPH; Izzuddin M. Aris, PhD; Margaret R. Karagas, PhD; Sheela Sathyanarayana, MD, MPH; Tom G. O’Connor, PhD; Kecia N. Carroll, MD, MPH; Rosalind J. Wright, MD, MPH; Christine W. Hockett, PhD; Christine C. Johnson, PhD, MPH; John D. Meeker, MS, ScD; José Cordero; Nigel Paneth, MD, MPH; Sarah S. Comstock, PhD; Jean M. Kerver, PhD, MSc, RDN; program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes
Valerie J. Flaherman, MD, MPH; Joan Murungi, MBBS; Carlito Bale, MBBS; Stephanie Dickinson, MS; Xiwei Chen, MS; Flavia Namiiro, MBBS; Jolly Nankunda, MBBS; Lance M. Pollack, PhD; Victoria Laleau, MS; Mi-Ok Kim, PhD; David B. Allison, PhD; Amy Sarah Ginsburg, MD, MPH; Augusto Braima de Sa, MS; Victoria Nankabirwa, MBBS, PhD
Mandy Brown Belfort, MD, MPH
John James Parker, MD; Clarissa Simon, PhD, MPH; Anne Bendelow, MPH; Michael Bryan, PhD, MPH; Ruben A. Smith, PhD, MS; Katherine Kortsmit, PhD, MPH, RD; Beatriz Salvesen von Essen, MPH; Letitia Williams, MPH; Ada Dieke, DrPH; Lee Warner, PhD, MPH; Craig F. Garfield, MD, MAPP
Adrienne E. Hoyt-Austin, DO, MAS, IBCLC; Jessica H. Cheng, MD; Hana Moua, MD; Daniel J. Tancredi, PhD; Caroline J. Chantry, MD; Laura R. Kair, MD, MAS
Andrea McGowan, MPH; Ruowei Li, MD, PhD; Kristin J. Marks, PhD, MPH; Heather C. Hamner, PhD, MS, MPH
Joan Younger Meek, MD, MS, RD, FAAP, FABM, IBCLC; Lawrence Noble, MD, FAAP, FABM, IBCLC; Section on  Breastfeeding
Close Modal

or Create an Account

Close Modal
Close Modal