Overcoming barriers to breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is the evolved human infant feeding norm, practiced historically and across cultures. Over the past 200 years, breast-feeding practices have eroded, reaching a nadir in the middle of the 20th century. Mobilization from grassroots social movements, with support from public health and medicine, has yielded a substantial rise in overall breastfeeding prevalence. However, timely initiation, exclusive breastfeeding, and duration of breast-feeding still lag behind global targets. Inadequate breastfeeding leads to substantial morbidity and approximately 600,000 child deaths and an additional 100,000 maternal deaths annually. Most women and pregnant people are physiologically able and desire to breastfeed, however, they face substantial barriers. Effective in-terventions address health systems, workplace policies, and engage communities and families. However, substantial work re-mains to implement fully supportive policies across multiple social sectors. Urgent action is needed to limit the pervasive influence of commercial milk formula (CMF) marketing in policy, healthcare, and on families to achieve more equitable outcomes. (C) 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Automated summary

Breastfeeding is the evolved human infant feeding norm, but current practices still fall short, leading to significant health issues and mortality rates. Despite the willingness of most women and pregnant individuals to breastfeed, they face various barriers. Improvements in healthcare systems, workplace policies, and community and family engagement are needed to promote breastfeeding.