News tagged with breastfeeding

Breastfeeding protects against asthma up to six years of age

(Medical Xpress) -- Research by the University of Otago in Christchurch and Wellington has shown that breastfeeding of infants has a clear protective effect against children developing asthma or wheezing up to six years of ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Breastfeeding can reduce risk of childhood obesity

Children of diabetic pregnancies have a greater risk of childhood obesity, but new research from the Colorado School of Public Health shows breastfeeding can reduce this threat.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study: Breastfeeding can be tougher for women when pregnancy is unplanned

Women who did not plan to get pregnant are much more likely to stop breastfeeding within three months of giving birth, according to a study published in the journal Current Anthropology. The research suggests that women ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Breastfeeding and lung function at school age: Does maternal asthma modify the effect?

Breastfeeding is associated with improved lung function at school age, particularly in children of asthmatic mothers, according to a new study from researchers in Switzerland and the UK.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 03, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Breastfeeding linked to infant temperament

(Medical Xpress) -- New evidence from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit, in Cambridge, suggests that breastfed babies may be more irritable than their bottle-fed counterparts.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Jan 11, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Breastfeeding promotes healthy growth

A PhD project from LIFE – the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Copenhagen has shown that breastfed children follow a different growth pattern than non-breastfed children. Breastfeeding lowers the levels ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Dec 20, 2011 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

No more free infant formula at RI hospitals

(AP) -- New mothers in Rhode Island will no longer leave the hospital with a free goody bag of infant formula.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 29, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Breastfeeding benefits mothers with reduced blood pressure risk

(Medical Xpress) -- While the benefits of breastfeeding for the baby are well established and some studies have shown that mothers who breastfeed have lower risks of diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease, ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 02, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Can breastfeeding reduce pain in preterm infants?

Poorly managed pain in the neonatal intensive care unit has serious short- and long-term consequences, causing physiological and behavioral instability in preterm infants and long-term changes in their pain sensitivity, stress ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Oct 19, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Dads, community health care workers' roles in supporting low-income moms with breast feeding

The low rate of breastfeeding among low-income, inner-city African-American mothers is a health disparity now receiving national attention. Two new studies from University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital highlight ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Oct 17, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Sleep disruption for breastfed babies is temporary

While breastfed babies initially awaken more during the night for feedings, their sleep patterns -- falling asleep, staying asleep and total sleep time -- stabilize in later infancy and become comparable to non-breastfed ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Oct 17, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Woman with a higher social standing and educational attainment breastfeed for longer

New research analyses maternal breastfeeding in Spain throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Experts believe that its development is associated with socio-demographic factors such as the advice of healthcare ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Sep 30, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Mother's postpartum oxycodone use: No safer for breastfed infants than codeine

Doctors have been prescribing codeine for postpartum pain management for many years, and, until recently, it was considered safe to breastfeed while taking the opioid. But the death of an infant exposed to codeine through ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Sep 06, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Like mama bears, nursing mothers defend babies with a vengeance

(Medical Xpress) -- Women who breast-feed are far more likely to demonstrate a "mama bear" effect — aggressively protecting their infants and themselves — than women who bottle-feed their babies ...

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Aug 30, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Prolonged breastfeeding does not protect against eczema, global study shows

The largest worldwide study on the association between breastfeeding, time of weaning and eczema in children has concluded that there is no clear evidence that exclusive breastfeeding for four months or longer protects against ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Aug 24, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. Most mothers can breastfeed for six months or more, without the addition of infant formula or solid food.

Human breast milk is the most healthful form of milk for human babies. There are a few exceptions, such as when the mother is taking certain drugs or is infected with tuberculosis or HIV. Breastfeeding promotes health, helps to prevent disease and reduces health care and feeding costs. In both developing and developed countries, artificial feeding is associated with more deaths from diarrhea in infants. Experts agree that breastfeeding is beneficial, but may disagree about the length of breastfeeding that is most beneficial, and about the risks of using artificial formulas.

Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and then supplemented breastfeeding for up to one (AAP) or two years or more (WHO). Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life "provides continuing protection against diarrhea and respiratory tract infection" that are more common in babies fed formula. The WHO and AAP both stress the value of breastfeeding for mothers and children. While recognizing the superiority of breastfeeding, regulating authorities also work to minimize the risks of artificial feeding.

According to a WHO 2001 report, alternatives to breastfeeding include:

The acceptability of breastfeeding in public varies by culture and country. In Western culture, though most approve of breastfeeding, some mothers may be reluctant to do so out of fear of public opinion.

For more information about Breastfeeding, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: women