We get questions from our readers from time to time about what the phrase “Fed Is Best” actually means. We’d like to share what it means to the Fed Is Best Foundation.

The co-founders of The Fed Is Best Foundation each have different perinatal health passions that they promote, all the while sharing the common goal of honoring all of the ways that babies are fed by promoting upholding safe, evidence-based infant feeding practices. Above all, we strive to eliminate infant feeding shaming and to constantly evolve and update current infant feeding resources for parents.

 

The bottom line is this: there are two nutritional and clinically safe food sources used to feed and nourish babies; one is human milk and another is infant formula.

Both are equally important choices that parents can make to nourish their babies. In addition, there are multiple ways to feed babies using human milk or formula. Formula feeding, breastfeeding, tube feeding and combo feeding are all best options for how families meet their babies’ feeding needs.

This is how Fed Is Best honors all of the ways babies are fed and nourished – by supporting safe, evidence-based practices.

The Fed Is Best Foundation also supports the scientific benefits of human milk and breastfeeding–for both mom and baby. 

 

 

Our Mission Statement:

The Fed is Best Foundation works to identify dangerous gaps in current breastfeeding protocols, guidelines, and education programs, and provide families and health professionals with the most up-to-date scientific research, education and resources to practice safe infant feeding with breast milk, formula, or a combination of both. #FedisBest

The Fed Is Best Foundation promotes #SafeBreastfeeding by educating all families about recognizing the signs of delayed onset of copious milk production and the transferring of milk while breastfeeding.

The Fed Is Best Foundation also has an ethical stance:

 

We want to thank you for supporting the Fed is Best Foundation in its mission to support all mothers to feed their babies safely. We want to share with you the progress we have made in the year-and-a-half that we have been in existence.

• We have nearly 450,000 Facebook followers world-wide and we are growing by 2,000 to 10,000 followers a week
• The Fed is Best Foundation was recently featured in a cover story of TIME magazine called “The Goddess Myth.” Our stories, our work and the Fed is Best message have been covered by the media globally including ‪Forbes.com‬, the Atlantic, ‪Slate Magazine, People.com‬, BBC News, CBC in Canada, CBS News, the Washington Post, ABC News, CNN News, Romper, the Huffington Post to name a few.
• Fed is Best Spokesperson Jillian Johnson and Fed is Best Co-Founder Dr. Christie del Castillo-Hegyi were interviewed on the Doctors Show. There Jillian shared the story of her son Landon’s tragic death from insufficient breast milk.
• Dr. del Castillo-Hegyi presented her research on the Dangers of Insufficient Feeding of Breastfed Newborns at the First Coast Neonatal Symposium held by the University of Florida at Jacksonville.
• Senior members of the Fed is Best Foundation met with top officials of the World Health Organization breastfeeding guidelines program, Dr. Nigel Rollins, Dr. Laurence Grummer-Strawn and Dr. Wilson Were to discuss our concerns about the high rates of brain- and life-threatening complications associated with the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. The events of this meeting was covered by Forbes.com
• We have supported thousands of parents to safely feed their babies through breastfeeding, formula-feeding, combination feeding and tube-feeding, helping them prevent the feeding complications of jaundice, dehydration, hypoglycemia and failure to thrive through Facebook.
• We are actively reaching out to major health organizations, health insurers and elected officials, with the help of our pro-‪bono‬ attorneys at Alston & Bird, to campaign for increased research, monitoring and public health education on infant feeding complications and for the protection of health professionals who provide supplementation and patient education on safe infant feeding practices.

Videos from mothers:

Just days after the birth of their first baby, Jared and Jillian Johnson were devastated by tragedy — a tragedy that Jillian says was completely preventable, if doctors, nurses and lactation consultants were educated about the risks of exclusive breastfeeding and provided just one bottle of donated milk or formula for their baby who died from lack of breast milk intake.  View video here.

Paige Ballard talking about her baby going 2 days going hungry from insufficient breast milk intake while constantly breastfeeding in the hospital and being shamed by her health provider. View video here.

Amanda Muse, mom and video blogger discussing how she feels about moms supporting moms, supporting moms going through Post-Partum Depression and Florence Leung’s suicide death over breastfeeding and supporting mothers knowing what is best for their children and their families. View video here.

 

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT FED IS BEST

There are many ways you can support the mission of the Fed is Best Foundation. Please consider contributing in the following ways:

1. Join the Fed is Best Volunteer group to help us reach Obstetric Health Providers to advocate for counseling of new mothers on the importance of safe infant feeding.
2. Make a donation to the Fed is Best Foundation. We are using funds from donations to cover the cost of our website, our social media ads, our printing and mailing costs to reach health providers and hospitals. We do not accept donations from breast- or formula-feeding companies and 100% of your donations go toward these operational costs. All the work of the Foundation is achieved via the pro bono and volunteer work of its supporters.
3. Share the stories and the message of the Fed is Best Foundation through word-of-mouth, by posting on your social media page and by sending our resources to expectant moms that you know. Share the Fed is Best campaign letter with everyone you know.
4. Write a letter to your health providers and hospitals about the Fed is Best Foundation. Write them about feeding complications your child may have experienced.
5. Print out our letter to obstetric providers and mail them to your local obstetricians, midwives, family practitioners who provide obstetric care and hospitals.
6. Write your local elected officials about what is happening to newborn babies in hospitals and ask for legal protection of newborn babies from underfeeding and of mother’s rights to honest informed consent on the risks of insufficient feeding of breastfed babies.
7. Send us your stories. Share with us your successes, your struggles and every thing in between. Every story saves another child from experiencing the same and teaches another mom how to safely feed her baby. Every voice contributes to change.
8. Send us messages of support. We work every single day to make infant feeding safe and supportive of every mother and child.  Your messages of support keep us all going.

Donate to Fed is Best

We as an organization further honor this pledge by remaining self-funded, and commit that our future fundraising will never include any kind of donation from formula companies  OR breastfeeding companies, that will profit from our advocacy.