Breastfeeding: Best for baby. Best for mom.

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OWH Programs and Publications

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The Office on Women's Health (OWH) continues to partner with other agencies and organizations to focus attention on the importance of breastfeeding. Below are some of the breastfeeding promotion initiatives and activities with which the Office on Women's Health is involved.

• An Easy Guide to Breastfeeding
• National Breastfeeding Helpline
• Partnerships
• Business Case for Breastfeeding
• National Breastfeeding Campaign
• HHS Blueprints and Breastfeeding Policy Statements

National Breastfeeding Helpline

The OWH partnered with La Leche League International to train the Information Specialists of womenshealth.gov to support the Office's new Breastfeeding Helpline. Information Specialists can help callers with common breastfeeding issues such as nursing positions and questions about pumping and storage. They can provide the support moms and dads need to make breastfeeding a success. The Helpline also provides tips for working moms who would like to continue breastfeeding, and offer suggestions for financial support. The Helpline, which operates in both English and Spanish, is open to nursing mothers as well as their partners, families, prospective parents, health professionals and institutions seeking to better educate new mothers about the benefits of breastfeeding. With the launch of the new Breastfeeding Helpline, NWHIC also launched the new web page Breastfeeding - Best for baby. Best for mom. The new section was designed to provide practical, helpful breastfeeding information and to help improve breastfeeding rates in all women. Online information is available in English, Spanish and Chinese and includes questions and answers about breastfeeding, coping with breastfeeding challenges and more.

Partnerships

After announcing the HHS Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding, the OWH received a tremendous response from consumers, organizations, and public health professionals concerned about the disparities in breastfeeding rates among white and African American mothers. To address this issue, the Office on Women's Health has partnered with the African-American Breastfeeding Alliance, Inc. (AABA), a community-based non-profit organization whose purpose is to educate the African American community about the benefits of breastfeeding through education, counseling, training, and advocacy. This community partnership with AABA began in December of 2000 and the effort is in its strategic planning phase. For more information about the African American Breastfeeding partnership, e-mail aaba@att.net.

Content last updated February 27, 2009.