Breastfeeding is protected, promoted, supported and valued
by the society in most parts of the world. Breastfeeding is the backbone of
early nutrition and provides major public health benefits. The nutrition and
growth of infants has an important effect on early morbidity and mortality and
there is increasing evidence of medium and long-term effects on health and
longevity.
All health workers should promote breastfeeding in the
community and ensure that best practice is followed. This will include providing families with all
of the information and support they need for breastfeeding or when mothers
choose to use infant formula.
The Infant Feeding Guidelines is aimed at health workers to
assist them provide consistent advice to the general public about breastfeeding
and infant feeding. It supports optimum infant nutrition, providing a review of
the evidence and clear evidence-based recommendations on infant feeding.
The Infant Feeding Guidelines are relevant to healthy, term
infants of normal birth weight (>2500 g). Although many of the principles of
infant feeding described in this blog can be applied to low birth weight
infants, specific medical advice is recommended for pre-term and underweight
infants.
