Breastfeed

Illustration of a heart containing two women breastfeeding in the center. A thin, black line encircles the heart and red text wraps the top and bottom of this circle. Another thin, black circle encloses the text and everything sits on a golden yellow background.

Medical providers agree: breastfeeding is best practice for feeding infant children. Barring rare situations, breastfeeding provides only benefits to the long-term health of both infant and parent.

Education and support for breastfeeding parents is usually the purview of pediatricians and family care doctors and nurses, midwives and doulas, as well as trained lactation consultants. Non-profit organizations such as La Leche League International as well as informal parental networks also provide support to encourage nursing.