See also The Fourth Trimester and Your Baby Week By Week for more information on breastfeeding in the first three months

Breastfeeding

Human infants are breastfed until natural weaning occurs. This is sometimes called full-term or natural-term breastfeeding. We endorse the World Health Guidelines which state:

“WHO and UNICEF recommend that children initiate breastfeeding within the first hour of birth and be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life – meaning no other foods or liquids are provided, including water.

Infants should be breastfed on demand – that is as often as the child wants, day and night. No bottles, teats or pacifiers should be used.

From the age of 6 months, children should begin eating safe and adequate complementary foods while continuing to breastfeed for up to 2 years and beyond.”

— https://www.who.int/health-topics/breastfeeding

When direct breastfeeding is not possible, babies should be fed their own mothers expressed breastmilk and/or donor breastmilk. The use of infant formula is considered a last resort. We do not permit any form of brand promotion of infant formula or products used with breastmilk substitutes in accordance with the The International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, informally known as The WHO Code

We support Informal Milk Sharing through online communities including Human Milk For Human Babies and Eats On Feets. We encourage and support the establishment of human milk banking making human milk available to all babies unable to be fully fed their Mothers Own Milk

We support antenatal expression of colostrum and the use of this in the postnatal period in circumstances where babies need supplementation.

We support relactation and induced lactation. We consider the terminology “breast”, “breastmilk” and “breastfeeding” to be biologically accurate at a population level but respect the right of individuals to use terminology like “chestfeeding”.

We recognise the Australian Infant Feeding Guidelines Information for health workers

“In Australia, it is recommended that infants be exclusively breastfed until around 6 months of age when solid foods are introduced. It is further recommended that breastfeeding be continued until 12 months of age
and beyond, for as long as the mother and child desire. ”

— https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/the_guidelines/n56b_infant_feeding_summary_130808.pdf

We respect child-led weaning from the breast as optimal but recognise that circumstance may led to mother-led weaning after two years.

We do not support night weaning or adult-modification of infant sleep patterns and recognise the normality and benefit of nighttime breastfeeding throughout the early years of life.

While we recognise that the majority of mothers in Australia initiate breastfeeding but only a minority achieve 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding due to circumstances beyond their control, this is not a community for those who choose not to breastfeed for non-medical reasons. This is not a formula feeding support forum. Questions around choosing and using infant formula are not permitted. We choose to describe the risks of infant formula and/or lack of breastfeeding, which may cause distress.