The WHO recommends women should be encouraged to breastfeed straight after birth, for both the mothers’s and baby’s health, including increasing baby’s immunity.
Breastfeeding is important for infant and maternal health. But without national data non breastfeeding rates, we have no idea whether things are improving or getting worse.
There is no evidence that the coronavirus is transmitted through breast milk, and breastfeeding is encouraged during COVID-19. However, the support available to new mothers has changed dramatically.
If you’re expressing breast milk for your baby, it’s important to understand how to store it safely – particularly when we’re experiencing warmer weather.
In an act of ‘mummy-shaming’ to rival anything today’s internet has to offer, Queen Victoria is thought to have named a cow in the royal dairy after her daughter, who had decided to breastfeed.
Milk and cookies might be a famous combination, but there’s little evidence so-called lactation biscuits can promote milk flow in breastfeeding mothers.
Breast milk contains ingredients in concentrations that change over the course of the day. Researchers think milk is chrononutrition, carrying molecular messages to help set a baby’s internal clock.
Breastfeeding mothers are turning to online groups due to dwindling real-life support — but these volunteer-led platforms don’t always have the best advice.
Research officer, Department of Health Economics, Wellbeing and Society, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University