To my pregnant friend who is all about sharing her favorite foods with the occupant of her womb: you are on the right track! It’s never too early to share your favorite foods with your baby. Even in utero, the taste of strong flavors like garlic or mint is transmitted to the baby via amniotic [...]

Yesterday, Pediatrics published an article online about the effect of maternity leave on breastfeeding rates. The results were not surprising, but a good reminder of one huge road block this country has if it wants to meet the public health goal of having more nursing moms. The CDC sets goals every 10 years as part [...]

Recently, The Journal of Pediatrics published a new study about newborn feeding practices in the U.S. that doesn’t paint the most breastfeeding-friendly picture. Some of the data piqued my interest — for example, researchers used data from 6788 children in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and found that only 55 percent were exclusively breastfed in [...]

An early release article in Pediatrics this month tells us that many babies may be introduced to solid food much earlier than doctors recommend — especially if they are perceived by their parents as being fussy. The report found that, in the families interviewed, 77 percent of infants were fed solid foods at the age [...]

Three separate studies have confirmed that “mothers who breastfeed are widely viewed as less competent than otherwise identical females,” as published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Additionally, one of the studies found that “breastfeeding is a handicap for women hoping to be hired for a job.”  I wasn’t entirely shocked by that [...]

The latest breast vs. the world issue involved Sarah Palin criticizing Michelle Obama. There's always a reason to get people riled up about breastfeeding and Time magazine has given us a list of the top 10 controversies.

The New York magazine blog Grub Street brought up an interesting juxtaposition the other day, suggesting that American mothers don’t breastfeed long enough, while mothers in the UK breastfeed too long.  That’s because most American mothers don’t breastfeed exclusively for the first four months of life as the American Association of Pediatrics recommends, but British [...]