The health benefits of breastfeeding have long been known and documented.  Available data suggests that infants breastfed during the 1^st year of life have less incidence of otitis media, respiratory infections, and gastrointestinal illnesses due to the protective properties of the breast milk.  These illnesses account for one-third to one-half of physician office visits during an infant’s 1^st year of life; this then translates into increased health care costs.

In 1997 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a policy statement that signaled the beginning of a return to breastfeeding in the United States.  The AAP recommended exclusive breastfeeding during the 1^st six months of life even when mother and baby are separated.  When the mother and baby are separated due to illness or when direct breastfeeding is not possible, pumping and feeding of breastmilk should be instituted.  During the remainder of the 1^st year the AAP recommended that iron-rich foods, in addition to breastmilk, be the baby’s primary nutrition.  Again, if mother and baby are separated, expressed breastmilk should be given.  This essentially makes breastfeeding and breastmilk the primary source of nutrition during the baby’s 1^st year of life.  This “Gold Standard” is, in essence, the standard against which all other infant feedings should be measured. 

Healthy People 2000, the health policy statement for the United States, established a goal of 75% of newly delivered women leaving the hospital will be breastfeeding and at least 50% of these mothers will still be breastfeeding at 6 months.  The Institute of Medicine’s subcommittee on Nutrition during Lactation concluded that infants in the United States should be breastfed and even in the face of deficient or poor maternal diets all women’s milk is quality milk.  Additional anticipated outcomes with this major shift to exclusive breastfeeding for infants are 2-fold:  (1) media promotion of artificial feeding would diminish or disappear and (2) family, employer, and societal support of breastfeeding would improve.  It is the latter that may be the most challenging to accomplish.  Today there are third, fourth and even fifth generations of artificially fed infants.  Many women giving birth today were not breastfed nor were their mothers or grandmothers breastfed.  Consequently little support or “hands-on” experience exists within family units for the new mother.  Formula feeding has become the “norm” or accepted method of infant feeding for such an extended period of time, some experts place this at 80-90 years, that information regarding breastfeeding has been lost to us.  Breastfeeding has become a lost art. 

          Therefore, when assistance, education or support is needed or when problems arise the new mother will turn to the health care professional—the people she expects to be “the experts.”  Unfortunately, the body of knowledge about breastfeeding has become so vast that providing current information to our patients has become a daunting task; many times the information may be dated, inconsistent and/or inaccurate.  Yet, we as the professional have the responsibility to promote, inform, and support breastfeeding and the breastfeeding family.  Do we need to stay current?  Do we need classes?  Definitely!