Breastfeeding News

December 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Breastfeeding Is Crucial to Shaping Infant's Microbes and Promoting Lung Health

Sep. 19, 2024 — Human breast milk regulates a baby's mix of microbes, or microbiome, during the infant's first year of life. This in turn lowers the child's risk of developing asthma, a new study ...

New Mathematical Model Sheds Light on the Absence of Breastfeeding in Male Mammals

June 27, 2024 — Mathematicians ave put forward a hypothesis which suggests that the reason male mammals don't breastfeed might be driven by the rich community of microbes that lives in breast milk and which plays an ...

Can Engineered Plants Help Make Baby Formula as Nutritious as Breast Milk?

June 13, 2024 — New research may help close the nutrition gap between infant formula and human breast milk. The study shows how plants can be programmed to produce a diverse array of beneficial sugars found in human breast milk. The findings could lead to healthier ...

A New Mother's Immune Status Varies With Her Feeding Strategy

May 7, 2024 — In one of the first studies of its kind, UC Santa Barbara researchers have found that the immune status of postpartum mothers shifts with how she feeds her baby. Certain inflammatory proteins -- substances that are secreted as part of an immune ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:52am EST

Health and Economic Benefits of Breastfeeding Quantified

May 22, 2024 — Breastmilk can promote equitable child health and save healthcare costs by reducing childhood illnesses and healthcare utilization in the early years, according to a new ...

Infant Gut Microbes Have Their Own Circadian Rhythm, and Diet Has Little Impact on How the Microbiome Assembles

Apr. 2, 2024 — Infant gut microbiomes oscillate with a circadian rhythm, even when they are cultivated outside of the body. Researchers report that the rhythm is ...

Breastfeeding After COVID-19 Booster Can Give Babies Antibodies

Mar. 4, 2024 — A recently published study that shows lactating mothers who get the COVID-19 booster pass along the antibodies to their children via their breast milk -- and potentially protect babies too young to ...

Study on Extremely Preterm Infants Provides Important Healthcare Knowledge

Jan. 2, 2024 — Infants born extremely prematurely need to get enrichment as an addition to breast milk. But does it make any difference whether the enrichment is made from breast milk or cow's milk when it comes to ...

Breastfeeding Alters Infant Gut in Ways That Boost Brain Development, May Improve Test Scores

Dec. 13, 2023 — Breastfeeding, even partially alongside formula feeding, changes the chemical makeup -- or metabolome -- of an infant's gut in ways that positively ...

How Pre And Postnatal B-12 Vitamins Improve Breast Milk Vitamin B-12 Levels, Which Supports Infant Brain Development

Dec. 1, 2023 — According to a new study B-12 vitamins increase the presence of the micronutrient in mothers' breast milk, which is especially helpful in countries ...

Adding Complex Component of Milk to Infant Formula Confers Long-Term Cognitive Benefits for Bottle-Fed Babies

Aug. 31, 2023 — New research has shown how a complex component of milk that can be added to infant formula has been shown to confer long-term cognitive benefits, ...

Breastfeeding Is Associated With a 33% Reduction in First-Year Post-Perinatal Infant Mortality

July 24, 2023 — Among nearly 10 million US infants born between 2016 and 2018, breastfed babies were 33% less likely to die during the post-perinatal period (day ...

Each Mom Passes Unique Set of Breast Milk Antibodies to Baby

July 18, 2023 — Breast milk from each individual contains a unique assemblage of antibodies that are surprisingly stable throughout lactation and across pregnancies, according to a new ...

Unsafe Feeding Methods Spiked During Infant Formula Shortage

June 27, 2023 — A survey finds nearly half of parents who rely on formula for their babies resorted to potentially harmful feeding methods during the infant formula ...

Infant Health Suffered During Baby Formula Shortage

Mar. 7, 2024 — A survey by UC Davis researchers shows the U.S. baby formula shortage in 2022 led 81% of parents to switch brands or types, causing health effects for ...

Mothers Need More 'Exclusive Breastfeeding' Support

Dec. 8, 2023 — Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life is proven to protect both mother and child health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 2015 and 2021, 48% of mothers ...

Dads Are Key in Supporting Breastfeeding, Safe Infant Sleep

June 16, 2023 — Fathers can make a huge difference in whether an infant is breastfed and placed to sleep safely, according to a recent survey of new ...

Beneficial Bacteria in the Infant Gut Uses Nitrogen from Breast Milk to Support Baby's Health

Mar. 27, 2023 — A nutrition scientist who has spent his career studying breast milk has demonstrated how beneficial microbes in the gut of infants use nitrogen from human milk to support pediatric nutrition and ...

Early Tastings Shorten Breastfeeding

Jan. 18, 2023 — The earlier infants begin to taste small samples of solid food, the earlier they eat more food and stop breastfeeding. This is shown in a new study, in which the mothers of 1,251 infants from all ...

Tiny Molecules in Breast Milk May Protect Infants from Developing Allergies

Nov. 15, 2022 — A new study finds that small molecules found in most humans' breast milk may reduce the likelihood of infants developing allergic conditions like atopic dermatitis and food ...

COVID-19 Pandemic May Have Decreased Breastfeeding

Oct. 7, 2022 — The COVID-19 pandemic has had many health impacts on families. While exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for ...

Research Finds Link Between Poor Health, Low Breast Milk Production

Sep. 29, 2022 — New research shows that poor metabolic health parameters are linked to low breast milk ...

New Safe-Sleep Guidelines Aim to Reduce Infant Deaths

June 21, 2022 — There are 3,500 sleep-related infant deaths in the United States each year. Many of those deaths are preventable, and the authors of the new guidelines are urging parents to take simple steps to help ...

Breastfeeding Duration Associated With Cognition

May 25, 2022 — Breastfeeding duration is associated with improved cognitive scores at ages 5 through 14, even after controlling for socioeconomic position and maternal cognitive ability, according to a new ...

Longer Duration of Exclusive Breastfeeding Has Protective Effect on Childhood Asthma

May 25, 2022 — A new study shows that a longer period of exclusive breastfeeding was associated with decreased odds of current ...

Busy Mothers Did Less Breastfeeding in 19th Century Netherlands

Apr. 13, 2022 — A 19th century rural Dutch village had unusually low rates of breastfeeding, likely because mothers were busy working, according to a new ...

Study Reveals the Dynamics of Human Milk Production

Apr. 6, 2022 — Researchers have performed a large-scale, high-resolution study of the cells in breast milk, allowing them to track how these cells change over time in nursing ...

Antibiotic and Antiretroviral Drug Effects on Breast Milk Are Explored for Mothers Living With HIV

Apr. 6, 2022 — Infants carry a vast assemblage of bacteria, viruses and fungi in their guts. Combined, these microbes make up a complex ecology known as the gut microbiome, which plays a major role in health and ...

Monitoring Breast Milk for PFAS

Feb. 23, 2022 — A research team has estimated concentrations of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in breast milk -- and raise the need for more ...

Genetic Mutation May Identify Women With Difficulty Producing Breast Milk

Feb. 22, 2022 — Leading health care organizations recommend exclusive breastfeeding for six months after birth, yet some mothers report stopping due to a perceived lack of milk supply. Researchers found in a recent ...

Live Cells Discovered in Human Breast Milk Could Aid Breast Cancer Research

Jan. 28, 2022 — Researchers have explored the cellular changes that occur in human mammary tissue in lactating and non-lactating women, offering insight into the relationship between pregnancy, lactation, and breast ...

Breastfeeding Reduces Mothers’ Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Jan. 11, 2022 — Women who breastfed at some time in their lives were less likely to develop heart disease or stroke, compared to women who did not breastfeed, according to a meta-analysis of previous studies. ...

Vaccinated Women Pass COVID-19 Antibodies to Breastfeeding Babies, Study Finds

Jan. 10, 2022 — Women vaccinated against COVID-19 transfer SARS-CoV-2 antibodies to their breastfed infants, potentially giving their babies passive immunity against the coronavirus, according to new ...