Understand infant feeding to best support mothers' choices

It is important that nurses provide support and advice to help breast or bottle feeding, says Judy More

Breast milk is the optimal milk feed for infants until 12 months of age. It provides the complete nutritional requirements, except vitamin D, for infants up to about six months of age and protection against illness via the antibodies it contains, which are produced in response to environmental factors.

Guidelines from the Department of Health (DH) and UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative state that mothers should be advised so that they can make an informed choice on how they feed their infant. They should then be supported in that choice to feed safely.¹