Evidence continues to mount regarding the value of breastfeeding for both women and their infants. The College strongly supports breastfeeding and provides resources to help Fellows, other health care professionals caring for women and their infants, hospitals, and employers to support women in choosing to breastfeed their infants.
News
On April 27, 2017, ACOG issued a Practice Advisory on Codeine and Tramadol for Breastfeeding Women. Read the press release.
ACOG presented a webinar, Pre and Postnatal Breastfeeding Support, on August 1, 2016. Free and open to all, this webinar explains ways to improve rates of breastfeeding initiation and duration through prenatal breastfeeding counseling and postnatal support, as well as up-to-date information on insurance coverage and reimbursement.
The final recommendation statement, Breastfeeding: Primary Care Interventions, clarifies that "the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) interprets support as including promotion. The USPSTF revised the recommendation statement to clarify that it has not changed its confidence in the benefits of breastfeeding and that it continues to recommend interventions to encourage breastfeeding." View the letter to read why ACOG did not support the draft wording of the recommendation.
ACOG endorses the World Health Organization and UNICEF's Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. These evidence-based steps have been shown to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration.
Breastfeeding Expert Work Group
ACOG founded a Breastfeeding Expert Work Group in February 2014 to develop accurate content and education, and to continue to demonstrate ACOG’s commitment to helping women achieve their goals for the best care possible for their newborns. The Work Group, which meets twice annually, includes a representative from the AAP Section on Breastfeeding (SOBr). Work Group members represent ACOG at meetings for the AAP SOBr as well as the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC), and ACOG staff are involved with additional national breastfeeding initiatives.
Breastfeeding Expert Work Group Mission Statement: ACOG’s Breastfeeding Expert Work Group will assist ACOG, specifically the Committee on Obstetric Practice and other committees as appropriate, by providing expertise in breastfeeding medicine and use that expertise to develop and promote breastfeeding tools and initiatives for providers and patients at all levels of the community.