How can we make breastfeeding easier?

Breastfeeding can give children a healthy start and provide benefits that continue throughout life. It can also benefit the health of mothers.

But knowing that breastfeeding is beneficial does not automatically make it easy. Families need practical help, reliable information, supportive services and environments that allow breastfeeding to work in everyday life.

Supporting breastfeeding should never mean judging individual families. It means ensuring that those who want to breastfeed have a fair opportunity to do so and that every family can make informed decisions based on their own circumstances.

Breastmilk is uniquely adapted to an infant’s needs. It provides energy and nutrients and contains antibodies, immune factors, hormones, bioactive compounds and living cells that support growth and development and help protect against infections. Its composition also changes over time in response to the infant’s changing needs.

According to the World Health Organization, breastfeeding helps protect children against common childhood illnesses. Breastfed children are also less likely to become overweight or obese and have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Women who breastfeed have a lower risk of breast and ovarian cancers.

Breastfeeding is therefore much more than a short-term question about feeding. It is one factor that can contribute to healthy growth, development and the prevention of disease across the life course.

This does not mean that breastfeeding guarantees future health or that illness results from an individual feeding decision. Health is shaped by many biological, social, commercial and environmental influences. Breastfeeding is one important protective factor within that much bigger picture.

Many mothers intend to breastfeed but stop earlier than they planned. They may experience pain, uncertainty about milk supply, difficulties with positioning or attachment, conflicting advice, exhaustion or a lack of timely support.

Returning to work can create additional barriers. So can limited parental leave, a lack of private spaces, inflexible schedules and social environments in which breastfeeding is not understood or welcomed.

These are not simply individual challenges. They are conditions that healthcare systems, workplaces, communities and policymakers can help change.

So, what makes breastfeeding easier?

Breastfeeding is natural, but it is also something mothers and babies learn together. Difficulties can arise, particularly in the first days and weeks.

Support from healthcare professionals with appropriate training can help families understand what is happening, identify problems and find solutions that fit their circumstances. The timing and consistency of that support matter. Families should not have to navigate contradictory advice or wait until a manageable difficulty has become overwhelming.

JA PreventNCD has developed BreastFEEDucation, a free online course designed to strengthen breastfeeding counselling among healthcare professionals and students. It combines scientific evidence with practical cases, demonstrations and interactive learning.

Giving professionals the right skills is one way of helping more families receive consistent and effective support.

The need for support does not end at hospital discharge. In many cases, this is when the questions really begin.

Baby-Friendly Community Health Services bring structured breastfeeding support into primary and community care. Based on WHO and UNICEF Baby-Friendly standards, the approach includes trained professionals, consistent policies, reliable information, monitoring and connections with community support.

The Norwegian model has been shown to increase the duration of exclusive breastfeeding and was recognised by the European Commission as a best practice for NCD prevention in 2022. JA PreventNCD is now helping countries and communities across Europe transfer and adapt the approach to their own settings.

Learn more about the Guidance for Baby-Friendly Community Health Services.

Families need information that is accurate, understandable and relevant to real life. They also need space to ask questions without feeling judged.

JA PreventNCD has supported the development of short parent information videos on infant feeding. They address breastfeeding, formula feeding and the introduction of solid foods, providing answers to common questions during a baby’s first year.

Including different forms of infant feeding is important. Supporting breastfeeding and providing appropriate information about formula are not contradictory. Families who use breast-milk substitutes need clear guidance on their safe and appropriate use.

Breastfeeding takes place in everyday life, not only in healthcare settings.

Partners and family members can help by sharing responsibilities, protecting time for rest and responding supportively when difficulties arise. Communities can help by making breastfeeding accepted and welcomed in public and social settings.

Workplaces also have an important role. Adequate parental leave, appropriate breaks, private and hygienic spaces and supportive workplace policies can make it more realistic for mothers to continue breastfeeding when they return to work.

The message is simple: families should not have to overcome every practical and social barrier alone.

Families are surrounded by advertising, sponsored content and online advice about infant feeding. It may not always be obvious when information is influenced by commercial interests.

The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes was adopted to protect and promote breastfeeding while helping ensure that breast-milk substitutes are used properly when necessary, based on adequate information and appropriate marketing and distribution.

This does not mean denying families access to formula or information about its safe use. It means protecting parents from inappropriate promotion and ensuring that health advice is independent and evidence-based.

Commercial influence is not directed only at parents. Companies may also seek to reach healthcare professionals and health services through free samples, gifts, sponsored education, funding of professional associations and other forms of financial or material support. These relationships can create conflicts of interest and influence the information and recommendations families receive from professionals they trust.

The Code therefore also addresses promotion within healthcare systems and the responsibilities of healthcare workers and facilities. Protecting the independence of professional education, healthcare advice and infant-feeding services is an important part of ensuring that families receive guidance based on health needs rather than commercial interests.

Digital marketing has made this issue increasingly complex. Advertising can be personalised, embedded within parenting content or communicated through influencers and online communities. Commercially supported content can also reach healthcare professionals through online training, webinars, medical publications and professional networks. Families and healthcare professionals both deserve to know when commercial interests may be shaping the information they receive.

Not everyone encounters the same opportunities or barriers.

Families living with financial insecurity, in remote areas or in emergency situations may have less access to skilled care and reliable information. Migrants and refugees may face language barriers or unfamiliar healthcare systems. Mothers in insecure employment may have little control over when or where they can express milk or breastfeed.

Emergencies create additional risks by disrupting health services, clean water supplies and community support. Prepared services and trained responders are essential to ensure safe, appropriate infant feeding and support for every family.

JA PreventNCD’s work on infant feeding in emergencies demonstrates why breastfeeding support is also part of preparedness, resilience and health equity.

Almost all women can breastfeed when they have accurate information and appropriate support. Whether breastfeeding can be established and continued in practice, however, depends greatly on the support and conditions around them.

It becomes easier when families can access skilled help, receive consistent and independent information, continue receiving support after leaving hospital and live and work in environments that respect their needs.

These conditions require action from healthcare services, governments, workplaces, communities and families. Strengthening them is not only an investment in breastfeeding. It is an investment in healthier lives and lifelong prevention, beginning at the very start of life.

Explore JA PreventNCD’s work on Baby-Friendly Community and Health Services.