Breastfeeding Fast Facts: Recommendations, Vitamins and Benefits

Breast milk is an excellent source of nutrition for babies — the best for most — and it changes as a baby grows to meet their needs. Breastfeeding is good for both mother and baby, and can help protect both against some illnesses and diseases in the short and long term.

How long

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization all recommend:

• breast milk only for about the first 6 months;
• adding suitable complementary foods at around 6 months of age;
• continuing to breastfeed until children are 2 years old or older.

Vitamins and minerals

Even with breast milk's rich nutrition, breastfed babies need extra vitamin D, starting at birth, and may need iron supplements. CDC's pages on infant vitamins and minerals give more detail.

Benefits

For mothers, breastfeeding is linked with a lower risk of:

• breast cancer;
• ovarian cancer;
• type 2 diabetes;
• high blood pressure.

For babies, being breastfed is linked with a lower risk of:

• asthma;
• obesity;
• type 1 diabetes;
• childhood leukemia;
• severe lower respiratory disease;
• acute otitis media (ear infections);
• sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS);
• gastrointestinal infections, with diarrhea or vomiting;
• necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), in babies born preterm.

Learn more

CDC has guides to what to expect while breastfeeding, the basics of feeding a newborn, how much and how often to breastfeed, pumping breast milk, and weaning.

Sources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Breastfeeding Fast Facts," Infant and Toddler Nutrition: https://www.cdc.gov/infant-toddler-nutrition/breastfeeding/index.html
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