The Fed is Best Foundation works to identify critical gaps in current breastfeeding and formula feeding protocols, guidelines, and education programs. We provide families and health professionals with the most up-to-date scientific research, education, and resources to practice safe infant feeding with human milk, formula, or a combination of both. To be fully informed, parents must be taught the risks of insufficient breast milk intake and how to prevent complications with temporary supplementation when supporting exclusive breastfeeding. We also prioritize perinatal mental health when counseling parents about their feeding options. Ultimately, every family has different needs, and every family deserves individualized, unbiased, inclusive, and shame-free support.
Read the Cofounder's Story
Listen to the Cofounder’s story while browsing and learn why Fed Is Best.
Fed is Best Photograph 2018, Abbie Fox of Fox Photography
We are excited to announce our upcoming book!
Now available for pre-order at all major retailers! Coming June 25, 2024!
“Masterfully written . . . a profound contribution to making medical complications from insufficient feeding of breastfed babies a ‘never-ever event.’ A must-read for all lactation care providers, pediatricians, and parents.”
Marianne Neifert, MD, Pediatrician and Co-Founder of the Academy of Breastfeeding medicine
Go to fedisbestbook.org or click the button below to learn more!
Fed Is Best Book
Consider the Following Facts
- One in 71 newborns is hospitalized for severe complications from inadequate milk intake while exclusively breastfeeding.
- One in five new mothers has a mental health condition before delivery, affecting 800,000 families.
- Suicide and overdose are the leading causes of death for women in the first year following pregnancy in the U.S.
If you need help, please call the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline 1-833-TLC MAMA (1-833-852-6262)
Fed is Best featured in the New York Times
We are honored to have been invited to write a safe, evidence-based guide, “How to Breastfeed the First 2 Weeks of Life” for the new New York Times Parenting page. Our very own Jody Segrave-Daly, RN, IBCLC, Co-Founder of the Fed is Best Foundation was invited to write this very important guide to help mothers who want to breastfeed meet their goals while ensuring their babies are safely fed and receiving all they need to thrive.
Fed is Best Foundation was given the honor of contributing to the New York Times Parenting article, “How to Deal with Low Milk Supply,” written by Susan Reslewic Keatley. This article provides mothers with low breast milk supply safe, evidence-based ways to maintain their breastfeeding relationship while ensuring her child safely receive all the nutrition she needs.
“Estimates of the prevalence of low breastmilk supply vary. While a handful of studies suggest low supply affects 10 to 15 percent of mothers, the lactation consultants I spoke to said it is one of the top reasons they receive calls for help.”
“A small but vocal group of pediatricians and nurses, led by the nonprofit Fed Is Best, has begun to criticize some of the strategies that Baby-Friendly hospitals use,” writes Carrie Arnold for NYT Parenting.
Jan. 6, 2020
Read more at the New York Times Parenting Page
Information for Hospitals
Fed is Best Guide to Safe and Optimal Infant Feeding
Updated February 1, 2024
We are proud to present the latest edition of the Fed is Best Guide to Safe Infant Feeding. The new step-by-step guide has information on how to safely and optimally feed infants regardless of how you plan to feed them, whether exclusive breastfeeding, supplemented breastfeeding, or exclusive formula-feeding. This free printable guide, similar to a birth plan, can help you:
- make informed decisions about your infant feeding goals
- learn more about when it might be necessary to supplement based on the most current evidence on infant brain development
- prepare for unexpected events so that you can get the extra support that you or your baby needs to ensure adequate and optimal feeding during the newborn period.
You can bring it to your health professionals so that they can help you feed your baby a way that best meets their nutritional needs and honors your autonomy, your choice, as well as your physical and mental health.
Fed is Best Feeding Plan
We have received stories from thousands of families about their infant feeding experiences—both successes and challenges. We have studied these stories and the medical literature on infant feeding to provide resources to prevent infant feeding complications. We do this to help families and their health professionals feed all babies so that they thrive. Click on the picture above.
Fed Is Best Advocacy Work
Dr. del Castillo-Hegyi and Jillian Johnson Raise Awareness at the USDA Dietary Guidelines Committee Meeting in Washington, DC
Washington, DC — On July 11, 2019, Dr. Christie del Castillo-Hegyi, Co-Founder of the Fed is Best Foundation and Jillian Johnson, Fed is Best Advocate and mother to Landon Johnson, who died from hypernatremic dehydration while exclusively breastfeeding, traveled to Washington, DC to provide testimonies to the 2020 USDA Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. This is the first year that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) have included pregnancy and birth to 24 months.
Dr. del Castillo-Hegyi provided the Committee data on the rates of insufficient feeding complications, namely jaundice, hypernatremic dehydration and hypoglycemia among exclusively breastfed newborns and the risk of brain injury and developmental disabilities caused by those conditions. She discussed the failures in patient education and patient management that come from Baby-Friendly policies and how they result in thousands of newborn admissions a year.
Jillian Johnson spoke about her son Landon, who she attempted to exclusively breastfeed under the guidance of her Baby-Friendly hospital. He developed cardiac arrest from dehydration and underfeeding 12 hours after discharge despite 2 days of constant crying and nursing in the hospital, which her health professionals deemed normal. He died after 2 weeks on life support. She asked the Committee, “How is a mother to know if her child is in danger if everyone tells her the constant crying and nursing are normal?” She asked the Committee to put in place standard practices and patient education guidelines to prevent these complications from happening to other infants.
Among the leading causes of newborn extended and repeat hospitalizations are complications of insufficient feeding in exclusively or near-exclusively breastfed newborns. The most common reasons for insufficient feeding are insufficient colostrum/breast milk production and delayed onset of copious milk production. These can lead to the complications of dehydration, excessive jaundice, hypernatremia, and hypoglycemia, which not only lead to preventable hospitalizations but can also result in impaired infant brain development. These not only put newborn patients at serious risk but also put health providers and hospitals at risk. The Fed is Best Foundation has created a page dedicated to providing information to health care providers and hospitals on how to ensure patient safety related to infant feeding, particularly for exclusively breastfed newborns. Click the photo below to learn more.
We are proud to introduce the Rush Family-Friendly Initiative!
A new alternative to hospital newborn infant feeding support
- Respectful, judgment-free support of exclusive breastfeeding, supplemented breastfeeding and exclusive bottle-feeding before and after birth
- Prenatal education and lactation support
- Support of safe skin-to-skin care, rooming-in with nurseries available on demand
- Complete patient education on all infant feeding choices and respect of parent choices
Family-Friendly Hospital Initiative
Fed is Best Foundation is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a strict policy of not accepting any funds or donations from organizations or companies that obtain revenue from infant feeding products or services, both breast- and formula-feeding. In operating this organization, we have no conflicts of interest. Neither this foundation, nor those who started or operate it, have any association with or funding from corporations, lobbying groups, or individuals associated with an industry that benefits from formula feeding. We do this to provide parents and health professionals with unbiased and safe infant feeding advice. Our organization is funded by our supporters’ private donations, including health professionals and parents. Our safe infant feeding education resources are provided for free because we believe that safe infant feeding is a human right and should be available to every family.