ABSTRACT
The commonest reasons given for stopping in this period are insufficient milk and sore nipples, and these can be related directly to insufficient attention being paid to teaching women the basic principles of attachment as they start to breastfeed. The hospital practices most strongly associated with women ceasing to breastfeed include delaying the first feed, giving artificial feeds, separating mother and baby, and restricting feed frequency and duration. The scientific evidence supporting the beneficial effects of breastfeeding has been accumulating over several decades. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published a Code for Infant Feeding to protect developing countries from being inundated with formula products which discourage breastfeeding. The flexibility in composition of breast milk gives a more natural balance of calcium and phosphate, leading to a very low incidence of neonatal tetany. The benefits of breastfeeding to the mother are largely practical and economical as well as increasing her psychological bonding to the infant.
