Breastfeeding Gives Children Everywhere
a Healthy Start in Life
UNICEF and partners offer nursing mothers around the world the support they need to help their babies thrive.
Breast milk is safe, nutritious and accessible — but breastfeeding is not always easy. Why UNICEF works so hard to protect, promote and support breastfeeding
Helping mothers breastfeed helps ensure their babies get the best start in life.
And breastfeeding becomes even more crucial in a humanitarian crisis, when families are often displaced and where access to clean water, adequate sanitation and basic services is often limited.
UNICEF works with partners around the world to help raise awareness about the benefits of breastfeeding and to make sure mothers are getting the support they need to be successful.
Breastfeeding is a solid investment in baby's future health and well being — and mom's
Breastfeeding can help newborns fight off infection; often called "baby's first vaccine," breast milk also offers protection from many childhood illnesses and bolsters brain development.
As mothers breastfeed, they share elements of their immune systems with their babies, leaving them less vulnerable to disease. Infants who breastfeed are less likely to develop allergies. In environments with poor sanitation and unsafe drinking water, breastfeeding also protects children from waterborne illness.
In fact, promoting breastfeeding as a best practice and providing breastfeeding mothers with sustained support is considered crucial for reducing child mortality from preventable and treatable causes like diarrhea and respiratory infections. Babies who are breastfed exclusively for the first six months, without any formula, have fewer ear infections, respiratory illnesses and bouts of diarrhea. They also have fewer hospitalizations and trips to the doctor.
Breastfeeding after birth also provides emotional benefits for babies and mothers. It reduces stress for nursing mothers, and breastfed babies are calmer and cry less overall.
Related: How UNICEF supports maternal health
Less than half of all babies under six months exclusively breastfed
Only 48 percent of infants under six months old are exclusively breastfed, due to overlapping challenges for new mothers, health workers, and health systems. Millions of mothers around the world do not receive timely and skilled support in a health care setting, when they need it most.
Only one-fifth of countries include infant and young child feeding training for the doctors and nurses who care for new mothers. This means the majority of the world’s mothers leave hospitals without proper guidance on how to breastfeed their babies and when to introduce complementary feeding.
Every dollar invested in breastfeeding support generates an estimated $35 in economic returns. Yet in many countries, health systems are too often under-resourced, fragmented or poorly equipped to deliver quality, consistent evidence-based breastfeeding support.
UNICEF calls on country governments and health administrators to prioritize breastfeeding and invest more in breastfeeding support services; this means increasing national budget allocations for breastfeeding programs; integrating breastfeeding counseling and support into routine maternal and child health services, including antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care; ensuring all health service providers are equipped with the skills and knowledge required to support breastfeeding, including in emergency and humanitarian settings; strengthening community health systems to provide every new mother with ongoing, accessible breastfeeding support to for up to two years and beyond; and protecting breastfeeding by ensuring that the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes is applied in all health facilities and systems.
UNICEF promotes breastfeeding and supports breastfeeding mothers worldwide
UNICEF works with global, national and local partners to communicate the benefits of breastfeeding and to help connect women to support services. This includes counseling from lactation consultants, nutrition specialists and health care professionals or peer support providers.
While connecting with mothers to discuss the benefits of breastfeeding, UNICEF-trained partners and health care workers can also convey the importance of child immunization and early childhood education.
Learn more about UNICEF health and nutrition programs for children
