Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
breastfeedinglatest news & developments
Breastfeeding offers protection against breast cancer, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. (Getty Images)

Make breastfeeding work at work

Workplaces must provide time, privacy, and support for mothers who are expressing breast milk

A new study suggests that changes in policies have led to decreased breastfeeding. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Policy changes around HIV lead to drop in breastfeeding

A new study suggests that changes in policies have led to decreased breastfeeding

Young women struggling with unplanned pregnancies — often victims of sexual violence and toxic masculinity — need help. (Photo by Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Counting the costs of childbirth in young girls

Among other psychosocial concerns, pre-teen and teenage births contribute to poor mother and child nutrition results

More than a quarter of children under five in South Africa are affected by stunting

Eradicating childhood stunting should be a priority in SA

Poor basic service delivery is linked to children’s poor nutrition

As we commemorate another annual breast-feeding week we are faced with statistics that are refusing to shift. (Photo by STR / AFP) / China OUT / TO GO WITH Health-family-China-healthcare by Helen Roxburgh and Poornima Weerasekara (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Mothers know breast is best, but many don’t do so for the recommended six months

As we commemorate another annual breast-feeding week we are faced with statistics that are refusing to shift. Grow Great looks at how as a society we can support women to…

Lucky baby: Many factors contribute to a successful breastfeeding relationship, including access to time and resources to do so. Photo: Getty

Formula for disaster: Why overfocus on formula-feeding will not improve our breastfeeding rates

An overly critical approach to infant formula will not improve South Africa’s breastfeeding rates if mother are not helped in systemic ways

We always tell moms breast is best but sometimes milk doesn’t come when babies do. This breast milk bank is filling in these gaps.

[LISTEN] You bank your money each month, so why not bank your breast milk?

We always tell moms breast is best but sometimes milk doesn’t come when babies do. This breast milk bank is filling in these gaps.

National guidelines say babies should get nothing but their mother’s milk for the first six months of life. But fewer than one in 10 women makes it to six months. (AFP)

‘I thought I’d breastfeed my baby for a year. That dream was short-lived’

We tell moms to exclusively breastfeed. But we don’t tell them about all the things that get in the way of that, including depression.

(John McCann/M&G)

Good for mom, baby and boss

Employers should encourage mothers to claim their rights to breastfeed at work

Dams would need to reach 65% by the end of the rainy season at the start of October before the city’s water storage capacity moves out of the danger zone. (David Harrison/M&G)

Trump slams anti-breastfeeding claims

The US president hit back at The New York Times for publishing ‘fake news’

Breastfeeding benefits mom and baby

Breast is best: Exclusive breastfeeding could turn Africa’s child mortality tide

Malnutrition is a leading cause of death in under-fives, but there’s a simple — and free — solution that could save lives.

Breast is best – for slim adults

Four reasons why breast is best: Babies are smarter, healthier and better behaved

Infants are less likely to be obese and mothers’ have a lower risk of cancer

​Exclusively breast-fed children are less likely to become antisocial teens and adults

Research shows mothers’ milk produces children less likely to be involved in crime.

Caution needed: Dr Carol Benn says if a woman takes hormone replacement therapy for more than five years she risks ‘fertilising’ cancerous tissue in the breast.

The flush of hormonal success

Replacement therapy for menopause symptoms is considered safe – if the breast cancer risk is addressed.

Ignoring prenatal HIV care leads to a lifelong burden

Mothers blame themselves and their children can never give up their antiretrovirals.

New breast-feeding policy for HIV moms pays off

Exclusive breast-feeding, introduced in line with WHO guidelines, has proven safe for babies if the mother is on antiretroviral treatment.

Editorial: Right to cry over R9m in spilt milk

This isn’t even incompetence; it’s deliberate waste, and we’d go so far as to say it’s fraudulent too.

Pope Francis.

Pope Francis has no scruples about public breastfeeding

Pope Francis has told families at special papal baptism that they should not stand on ceremony if their children are in need of food.

Breastfeeding safely with HIV

This is the story of two South African HIV positive women who are taking care of their own health and that of their babies by breastfeeding on ARVs.

Comment: Breast may be best, but bribing mothers to nurse is not

There are many advantages to breastfeeding but should mothers be bribed to do it?