In a world filled with infant feeding advice and conflicting messages, a beacon of wisdom and support emerges – our newly published  Fed Is Best book: The Unintended Harms of the “Breast Is Best” Message and How to Find the Right Approach for You and Your Baby.

Our transformative book promises to navigate the intricate landscape of infant feeding choices, empowering parents with knowledge and judgment-free support. Our highly anticipated book will reshape the conversation around infant nutrition, offering a comprehensive, science-backed, and inclusive perspective on the myriad ways families can safely and optimally nourish their babies. Click here to purchase our newly published, groundbreaking book!

 

Let’s Talk About What The Fed Is Best Foundation Stands For

1. We are committed to providing parents with vital knowledge and education about breastfeeding safely, a mission that sets us apart from other healthcare organizations. The data supports our mission: One in 71 exclusively breastfed babies is rehospitalized for serious health complications of insufficient breastfeeding, which is unacceptable. Click here for a FREE infant feeding plan.  

 

2. We are committed to educating families on how to prioritize perinatal mental health outcomes when educating and informing them of all of their infant feeding options based on their mental health needs, another mission that sets us apart from healthcare organizations. 

Click here for mental health outcomes and infant feeding goals. 

3. We affirm all the health benefits of breastfeeding or pumped human milk for parents and babies found in well-controlled trials, such as lower rates of gastrointestinal and respiratory infections, eczema, and life-threatening necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants. 

4. We advocate that all families receive equal and unbiased infant feeding support, whether they exclusively nurse, combo, expressed milk, formula, or tube feed. Parents’ feeding methods should never be shamed, and no family should suffer in isolation because of their feeding methods.

5. We advocate that all parents receive information about the risks and benefits of all infant feeding methods to ensure optimal infant feeding outcomes for all babies and their families. 

6. Based on research results, we understand that the current message of exclusive breastfeeding has moralized parenting and established a social hierarchy that views exclusive breastfeeding parents as “better” than those who combo, formula, pumped milk, or tube feed their babies. It is our goal to change this inaccurate perception.  Please join us!

7. We recognize the pressure to breastfeed from healthcare providers is associated with the onset of mental health conditions.  According to research findings, the pressure to breastfeed exclusively is leading to depression, anxiety, disordered eating, and other mental health conditions. We advocate for fundamental change in educating and supporting breastfeeding without exerting pressure. We do this every day at work and in our support group.

8. We are firmly committed to supporting and respecting all infant feeding methods, including breastfeeding, combo, expressed milk, and formula feeding. This approach is inclusive and supportive of all families.  As parents, we don’t always get to decide how we feed our babies. No family should be without infant feeding support. 

Please remember this:

• Your best version may not be another parent’s best way to feed their baby. Breast/chestfeeding, combo feeding, banked donor milk, expressed human milk feeding, formula feeding, fortified milk feeding, tube feeding, and TPN (intravenous feeding) are all the best options parents have to meet their babies’ nutritional needs. 
• Support and outcomes for mental health cannot be overstated, and they are not currently incorporated into breastfeeding policies. Each family decides with their healthcare professional which type of milk and feeding method will nourish their baby in the best way possible, given their individualized needs. 
• Our mission is to provide all families with unbiased, inclusive infant feeding education and support, with compassion, to empower all families to thrive. Focusing on new research findings and parental needs will remain integral to our advocacy.

Please use all of our free resources here!

Please consider donating to our Foundation so that we can continue providing free education for all families. 

Thank you!

The Fed Is Best Book: Protecting Infants and Empowering Choices – Fed Is Best Foundation