But data also show that in the real world, the pressure to breastfeed exclusively and offer no other food or drink in the first few months of life, and especially in the first few days of life, can cause real harm that’s “happening before our eyes,” Christie del Castillo-Hegyi said. Del Castillo-Hegyi is an emergency physician who researches newborn brain injury and breastfeeding, and is the co-founder of the Fed is Best Foundation (FIBF), a nonprofit organization of health professionals and moms who educate on the safest methods for breastfeeding, mixed feeding, and formula feeding.

“Doctors are reporting it, and it’s showing up in medical literature, and the WHO is literally choosing to ignore it,” she added.