Breastfeeding Medicine Blog

By Melissa Bartick, MD, MS, FABM This week, the results of the COVID Mothers Study were published in Breastfeeding Medicine, providing more evidence that it may be safe to keep mothers and newborns together and, importantly, that separating them causes significant harm.  Indeed, as the authors point out, the “significantly low rate of [neonatal] hospitalization […]

ABM is excited to launch the beginning of our Candid Conversations series, featuring ABM members and their various initiatives within the Academy as well as their professional lives. This week, ABM sat down virtually with Helen Johnson, MD and Katrina Mitchell, MD IBCLC, two authors of our most recent protocol Breast Cancer and Breastfeeding, to […]

New Rochelle, NY, June 10, 2020 — Managing women with breast cancer who are breastfeeding is a complex issue. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine presents new recommendations in the peer-reviewed journal Breastfeeding Medicine. Click here to read the article now. “The aim of this new protocol is to guide clinicians in the delivery of optimal […]

New Rochelle, NY, May 18, 2020 — Pregnant and breastfeeding women have been excluded from clinical trials of drugs to treat COVID-19, and as result, there is no safety data to inform clinical decisions. Such drugs include remdesivir according to a new article in the peer-reviewed journal Breastfeeding Medicine. Click here to read the article. […]

MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC./GENETIC ENGINEERING NEWS New Rochelle, NY, April 9, 2020–In a new commentary, Alison Stuebe, MD, President of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, addresses the risks and benefits of separating infants from COVID-19-positive mothers following birth. Although multiple public health organizations recommended keeping mothers and infants together, the United States’ Centers for Disease […]

By Melissa Bartick, MD, MSc, FABM The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine has released its updated Bedsharing and Breastfeeding Protocol. The protocol presents evidence-based recommendations synthesized by an international collaboration of authorities on the topic who conducted a rigorous review of the literature. Aimed at physicians and other health care professionals caring for families who have […]

Imagine seeing a breastfeeding family two days after hospital discharge and having the time needed to correct latch, help manage engorgement, or review hand expression and supplementation for the baby with poor weight gain.  Health care provider support improves breastfeeding initiation and duration.  Yet, too often primary care providers (PCP) do not have the time […]

By Melissa Bartick, MD, MSc, FABM Did the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative meet its intended goal of increasing breastfeeding across the United States? A recent study claims it failed. The study, published in The Journal of Pediatrics by Bass and colleagues, is replete with fancy statistics and graphs, but the obvious answer is that Baby-Friendly is […]

Dr. Helen Johnson Ironically, physicians have some of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the United States. Despite acute awareness of the medical risks of not breastfeeding and deep commitment to educating their patients about the importance of breastfeeding, many physician mothers face significant challenges in their own breastfeeding efforts. Medical trainees – including medical […]

By Dr. Jane Morton “I’m going to try.” This is the tentative answer many mothers give, instead of “Yes, I’m going to breastfeed!” Why do so many women worry that breastfeeding may be complicated, painful and probably dependent on professional help? If breastfeeding is so natural, why doesn’t it come naturally, as it seems to […]

Authored by: Sarah Shubeck, MD and Megan Pesch, MD, MS The culture of medical training and demands of residency work is often regarded as not conducive to the needs of lactating physicians. The need for “breaks” or perceived lack of dedication to workplace can lead to misperception of lactating trainees and pressures to stop milk […]

Dr. Julie Ware recaps experiences and takeaways from the December 2018 conference: Eliminating Disparities in Breastfeeding and Infant Mortality

Healthy newborns wake easily and often to feed, and a “good sleeper” in this age group is one that lets you know when he or she is hungry, is an efficient and effective feeder, and settles after the feeding and falls back asleep.  Modern societal expectations often do not allow for or encourage new mothers […]

The new ABM Clinical Protocol #7 could have just been the revision of an outdated protocol. That was my idea when I received Wendy Brodribb’s invitation to help update the 2011 Breastfeeding Hospital Policy protocol. Being the national coordinator of the Baby-Friendly Initiative in Spain, a member of the BFHI coordinator’s network, and a practicing pediatrician, I […]

I’m grateful to be part of a community that cares deeply about bringing together physicians to protect, promote and support families so that they are able to meet their breastfeeding goals.

When the federal government funds research in human milk composition, ultimately the fruits of that research are often likely to end up enriching the formula industry, the biotech industry, and the researchers who hold their patents. Most importantly, federal research money spent on human milk composition may mean the government has less to spend on research issues that will help increase breastfeeding rates and improve population health.

Health care providers counseling breastfeeding mothers should have an informed discussion weighing carefully the risks of cannabinoid exposure and potential impact on neurodevelopment against the benefits of breastfeeding. Current data suggest that the safest choice is no use of marijuana while breastfeeding.

Last week, we published our novel study, “Sudden Infant Death and Social Justice: A Syndemics Approach,” showing that bedsharing – which has been the main focus of many interventions – is not the primary risk behind sudden infant death. Instead, factors associated with poverty and racism have much more to do with Sudden Unexplained Infant […]

The inaugural ABM Australia/New Zealand Regional Conference was held  at the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia on July 20-21 2018 with over 85 registrants from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan.   The conference was preceded by a one day workshop “Breastfeeding Essentials for Medical Practitioners” which is a Australian/NZ version of the ABM ‘What every […]

Breastfeeding and breast milk are life sustaining, unique human physiologic events that cannot and should not compete with or have an equal with other commodities or corporate profits.