According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), poor nutrition during the early stages of the life cycle can lead to extensive and irreversible damage to physical growth and brain development.
Instead, good nutrition has a positive effect. Breastfeeding is the optimal way to feed babies, offering them the nutrients they need in the right balance, as well as offering protection against disease.
The World Health Organization recommends that infants be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life, and then introduce nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods, while breastfeeding continues until two years of age or beyond.
In 2012, the World Health Assembly (WHA) endorsed the global nutrition goal of increasing the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of age to at least 50% by 2025.
key facts
Breastfeeding helps prevent overweight and type 2 diabetes in childhood
Prolonged breastfeeding reduces the risk of overweight and obesity by 13%, which contributes to combat non-communicable diseases caused by obesity. It also decreases the risk of type 2 diabetes by 35%.
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Breastfeeding protects against childhood leukemia
Breastfeeding for six months or more is associated with a 19% reduction in the risk of childhood leukemia, compared with a shorter period or not breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding protects against sudden infant death syndrome
Babies who are breastfed have a 60% lower risk of dying from sudden infant death syndrome, compared to those who are not breastfed. The effect is even greater for infants who are exclusively breastfed.
Breastfeeding promotes attachment
Mother-infant attachment increases when mothers interact with their infants while breastfeeding. Longer periods of breastfeeding are associated with more sensitive responses from mothers and the security that comes with attachment.
Breastfeeding duration is positively associated with income
Follow-up of a cohort of children 30 years after their birth showed that adults who were breastfed had higher wages, an effect that was mediated by increased years of schooling.
Policies that support breastfeeding in the workplace are good for business
Policies that support breastfeeding in the workplace increase employee retention, performance, loyalty, productivity, and team spirit.
Breastfeeding increases the intelligence of babies
Adults who were breastfed as children have 3.4 points more in indicators of cognitive development. An increase in cognitive development results in more years of schooling.
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Breastfeeding is good for the environment
Breastfeeding leaves no carbon footprint. Breast milk is a renewable resource and is produced by mothers and consumed by babies without pollution, packaging or waste.
Breast milk: more than nutrition
In addition to providing the perfect nutrition and protection against infection and death, the components of breast milk likely affect epigenetic programming at a critical time when gene expression is developing for the rest of life.
Breastfeeding: an imperative public health policy
“If there were a new vaccine that prevented 1 million or more child deaths per year, and was also cheap, safe, administered orally, and didn’t require a cold chain, it would be a public health policy imperative. Breastfeeding can do this and more.”
Breastfeeding also protects mothers
Women who breastfeed have a 32% lower risk of type 2 diabetes, a 26% lower risk of breast cancer, and a 37% lower risk of ovarian cancer, compared with women who do not breastfeed or who breastfeed less.
The International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes provides guidelines to prevent the inappropriate marketing of breastmilk substitutes, including infant formulas, bottles, teats, follow-on formulas, and related products. It is necessary to legislate and monitor it. When producers and distributors violate it, they must be sanctioned.