New Rochelle, NY, February 18, 2021—The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) has released a new clinical protocol to ensure breastfeeding-friendly physician’s offices and optimize care for infants and children. The updated protocol is published in the peer-reviewed journal Breastfeeding Medicine. Click here to read the article now. 

    “Taking into account the 2018 Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) Revised Implementation Guidance this updated protocol seeks to offer recommendations for the outpatient setting that will contribute to reaching the WHO’s goal of increasing exclusive breastfeeding among 6-month-olds to 50% by 2025,” said Natasha Sriraman, MD, MPH, Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters and Eastern Virginia Medical School, and coauthors.

    Among the recommendations for promoting breastfeeding in physician’s offices are the following:

• Establish a written breastfeeding-friendly office policy
• Education all office staff on breastfeeding support skills and how to implement the skills with patients
• Keep all literature that promotes artificial feeding, including infant and toddler formula, out of view from patients and families
• Know about local and national breastfeeding laws that protect against discrimination from breastfeeding in public
• Promote breastfeeding in the office setting
• Educate patients about breastfeeding during all stages of pregnancy and postpartum care.

Arthur I. Eidelman, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Breastfeeding Medicine, states: “While breastfeeding initiation rates have increased satisfactorily in hospital postpartum wards, this most welcomed Protocol addresses the current challenge of how to create a breastfeeding-friendly supportive environment in the outpatient physician office setting."

 

About the Journal
    Breastfeeding Medicine, the official journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, is an authoritative, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal published 10 times per year in print and online. The Journal publishes original scientific papers, reviews, and case studies on a broad spectrum of topics in lactation medicine. It presents evidence-based research advances and explores the immediate and long-term outcomes of breastfeeding, including the epidemiologic, physiologic, and psychological benefits of breastfeeding. Tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Breastfeeding Medicine website.

 

About the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine^®
 The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM)  is a worldwide organization of medical doctors dedicated to the promotion, protection, and support of breastfeeding. Our mission is to unite members of the various medical specialties with this common purpose.  For more than 20 years, ABM has been bringing doctors together to provide evidence-based solutions to the challenges facing breastfeeding across the globe. A vast body of research has demonstrated significant nutritional, physiological, and psychological benefits for both mothers and children that last well beyond infancy. But while breastfeeding is the foundation of a lifetime of health and well-being, clinical practice lags behind scientific evidence. By building on our legacy of research into this field and sharing it with the broader medical community, we can overcome barriers, influence health policies, and change behaviors.

 

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research. A complete list of the firm’s more than 90 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.