Maternal and Child Health Program: Breastfeeding
Research shows that there is no better food than human milk for the baby’s first year of life. Breastfeeding provides many health, nutritional, economic, and emotional benefits to the lactating person and the baby. There are also benefits to the community, workplace, and the environment.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes breastfeeding as the ideal method of feeding and nurturing infants. Breastfeeding is key in achieving optimal infant and child health, growth, and development. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends:
- That infants be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life.
- Continued breastfeeding, with the gradual addition of appropriate foods, for as long as mother and child desire, for two years or beyond.
Healthy People 2030
Healthy People 2030 is a government initiative that sets measurable goals to improve the health and well-being of people across the country. This includes the following breastfeeding goals:
- Increase the proportion of infants who are breastfed exclusively through age 6 months. (MICH-15)
- Increase the proportion of infants who are breastfed at 1 year. (MICH-16)
Maternal and Child Health Program Title V Block Grant
The overall goal of the breastfeeding objective is to increase initiation, duration, and exclusivity rates for breastfeeding and human milk feeding. Strategies include:
- Work with local and tribal health agencies to increase lactation support in the workplace and early childhood settings.
- Work with local and tribal health agencies to enhance local community coordination to improve continuity of care by strengthening consistent implementation of prenatal, maternity care, and postpartum practices that support breastfeeding.
- Support hospital use of quality improvement strategies that align with the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and/or Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative guidelines.
- Support community agencies to advance breastfeeding efforts within specific populations experiencing inequities in breastfeeding, including initiation and duration.
- Strengthen collaboration and partnerships with other programs and grant-funded projects doing similar work to increase knowledge and promote resource utilization and tools to support breastfeeding.
Key partners
- Supporting Families Together Association
- Coffective
- Wisconsin Association for Perinatal Care
- African American Breastfeeding Network
Related efforts
The Division of Public Health supports lactation and human milk feeding through a variety of programs. Visit the Wisconsin WIC Program’s Breastfeeding Support page and the Chronic Disease Prevention Unit’s Breastfeeding Initiatives page for more information.
More general breastfeeding information can be found on the Breastfeeding Resources page.
Questions about the MCH Program? Email us at DHSDPHMCH@dhs.wisconsin.gov.
Note on inclusive language
We recognize that not all people use the term “breastfeeding.” Chestfeeding and bodyfeeding are other ways to describe the feeding of human milk to a child, whether directly from an individual or from those who exclusively pump their milk or use a supplemental nursing system. While our resources may occasionally use the term “breastfeeding” and “mothers,” we intend for this information to be inclusive of all families.