A National Strategy to Improve Support for Breastfeeding

Each year, more than 3.5 million women give birth in the United States. While 84 percent begin breastfeeding, many encounter barriers that make it difficult to continue — from a lack of paid leave to limited access to skilled lactation support. The consequences are significant: suboptimal breastfeeding costs the nation an estimated $17.2 billion to over $100 billion annually. Families and communities disproportionately bear the health, emotional, and financial consequences, while children are not beginning life with an optimal nutritional foundation.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine created its first national report on breastfeeding, calling for decisive action to:

• Create a national breastfeeding strategy to align federal, state, and community supports.
• Strengthen programs like WIC and community-led programs to help provide nutrition and breastfeeding support for all families
• Implement the UNICEF/World Health Organization’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative’s Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding as the standard of care in all birth facilities
• Enact paid federal family and medical leave to give families the time they need to establish and sustain breastfeeding.

To really value breastfeeding means not only recognizing its importance for maternal and child health, but to invest in the systems that enable it.

Cecília Tomori, PhD

These recommendations come as the White House’s Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy Report (2025) also highlights breastfeeding as a public health priority.

“To really value breastfeeding means not only recognizing its importance for maternal and child health, but to invest in the systems that enable it,” says Dr. Cecília Tomori, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and Bloomberg School of Public Health, who is a contributor to the report. Her research underscores the importance of structural solutions that make breastfeeding possible for all who want to pursue it.

Enabling breastfeeding is about more than individual decisions — it’s about making sure families have real options, backed by supportive policies and systems, so every child has a strong start.

Read the report:

Breastfeeding in the United States: Strategies to Support Families and Achieve National Goals