BMC Public Health is calling for submissions to our Collection on Health benefits of breastfeeding.
The World Health Organization recommends initiating breastfeeding within the first hour of birth and continuing to exclusively breastfeed children for their first six months of life, without the introduction of any other foods or liquids, including water.
The best breastfeeding practice requires that infants are breastfed on demand, which means that mothers are encouraged to feed their babies whenever the baby wants, including during the night hours. This approach helps to keep up the ideal production of milk and synchronize it with the baby’s needs.
Breast milk contains all the nutritional components that the baby needs for its growth and development, moreover it provides passive humoral immunity thanks to the presence of antibodies, protecting the baby from infections and diseases.
Breastfeeding has health benefits also for mothers, including a lower risk to develop breast and ovarian cancer but also other types of conditions such as type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Other benefits of breastfeeding include strengthening the mother-baby bond, promoting skin to skin contact and the release of prolactin and oxytocin which are associated with lower levels of maternal stress. Finally, breastfeeding straight after giving birth increases the mother's oxytocin levels, promoting the contraction of the uterus and helping it to return to its normal size more quickly and preventing hemorrhage.
In support of Sustainable Development Goal 3- Good Health and Well-Being, BMC Public Health has launched this collection calling for research on the health benefits of breastfeeding. We would particularly welcome submissions addressing but not limited to:
- The role of breastfeeding in improving health outcomes for children and mothers
- Breastfeeding promotion interventions
- Women's perceptions and experiences of breastfeeding
- The relationship between breastfeeding and the incidence of infant illnesses
- Factors influencing the practice of exclusive breastfeeding
- Socio-economic and environmental factors affecting breastfeeding
- Barriers to exclusive breastfeeding
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