Breastfeeding Counseling Guides for Health Care Professionals These one-page guides developed by the Iowa Breastfeeding Coalition are intended for use by health care professionals when counseling mothers.
Implementation of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Steps in Iowa Hospitals Research published in the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing that discusses the status of each of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative Ten Steps and associated policies in Iowa hospitals.
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
How this organization is assisting hospitals to obtain the Baby-Friendly Hospital designation through their work with the state of Delaware.
Surgeon General's Key Actions to Support Breastfeeding This resource provides key actions that doctors, nurses, and health care leadership can do to support breastfeeding.
Effects of Breastfeeding on Disease Risk Reduction Breastfeeding can reduce the risk of disease in both children and women. This paper looks at the protection against overweight/obesity, cardiovascular disease, and breast cancer.
Outcomes of Breastfeeding This document provides a summary of current journal articles on specific diseases or health concerns and is broken down into the following three sections: Effects on the Infant, Maternal Effects, and Societal Effects. Updated January 2019
Professional Breastfeeding Publications A list of breastfeeding publications for health care professionals who counsel nursing mothers.
Vitamin D and Breastfeeding To learn more about vitamin D and breastfeeding, read L Haggerty's 2011 review of the literature. The effectiveness and safety of maternal vitamin D supplementation for prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency in breastfed infants and lactating women is reviewed.
CDC Vital Signs: Hospital Support for Breastfeeding Preventing obesity begins in hospitals This 4 page document discusses how most hospitals do not fully support breastfeeding and provides suggestions for improvement. Download the PDF here.
Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in the U.S. The initiative promotes, protects, and supports breastfeeding through The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding for Hospitals, as outlined by UNICEF/WHO. The steps for the United States are:
Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.
Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants.
Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breastmilk, unless medically indicated.
Practice "rooming in" - allowing mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.
Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants.
Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic.
Hand Expression of Breastmilk Hand expression is a useful skill for breastfeeding mothers. Dr. Jane Morton from Stanford School of Medicine demonstrates how to teach mothers to hand express breastmilk in this seven minute video.
Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding
On January 20, 2011, Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin released The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding.
Press Release Executive Summary Fact Sheet The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding
Professional Web sites
Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Pediatrics
Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses
Infant Risk Center- Medications & Breastfeeding
Human Milk Banking Association of North America
International Lactation Consultant Association
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
Breastfeeding Web sites and Coalitions