HOME HELP CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS CME ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Take the CME quiz: Vol. 27 No. 11, November 2006 Rapid Responses: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Rapid Responses are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services E-mail this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My File Cabinet Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Chandran, L. Articles by Gelfer, P. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Chandran, L. Articles by Gelfer, P.

(Pediatrics in Review. 2006;27:409-417.)
© 2006 American Academy of Pediatrics

Breastfeeding: The Essential Principles

Latha Chandran, MBBS, MPH^*
Polina Gelfer, MD

^* Editorial Board
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

	Objectives

 
After completing this article, readers should be able to:

1. Understand the physiology of lactation.
   
2. Discuss the biologic specificity of human milk.
   
3. Delineate the benefits of breastfeeding for the infant, the mother, and the community.
   
4. Know relative and absolute contraindications to breastfeeding.
   
5. Describe current recommendations for breastfeeding.
   

	Introduction

 
Breastfeeding practice is the biologic norm for Homo sapiens and dates back some 40,000 years. Until the last several decades, breastfeeding was the norm, and wet-nursing was the only alternative to allow infants to survive. Although pediatricians overwhelmingly agree that breastfeeding is best for babies, in the United States today, only 68% of all new mothers even attempt it, and at least 50% abandon it quickly. The United States Public Health Service Healthy People 2010 Initiative calls for an increase in the rate of breastfeeding to 75% at birth, 50% at age 6 months, and 25% at 1 year of age (Figure). The presence or absence of breastfeeding affects the economics of the family and the community. Multiple studies confirm that the annual cost to the United States health care system from women not breastfeeding is several billion dollars. Promoting breastfeeding can decrease costs for public health programs such as The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, parental employee absenteeism as a result of decreased infant illness, environmental burden for disposal of formula cans and bottles, and energy demands for production and transport of artificial feeding products.

View larger version (26K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure. Breastfeeding rates in 2003 and United States Healthy People 2010 breastfeeding objectives. From Centers for Disease Control and Prevention breastfeeding national immunization data.

	Physiology of Lactation

 
During pregnancy, the breast grows larger, the diameter of the areola increases, pigmentation increases, the nipples become more erect, and the veins become more prominent. Various hormones stimulate breast growth: prolactin and placental lactogen stimulate nipple and areolar growth; estrogen . . . [Full Text of this Article]