We fund the Pregnancy, Birth and Baby website to support new parents, including information on breastfeeding and infant feeding.
Supporting breastfeeding
Benefits of breastfeeding
Breastfeeding has significant health benefits for both babies and mothers.
Evidence shows that breastfed babies are less likely to suffer from:
- intestinal inflammation (necrotising enterocolitis)
- diarrhoea
- respiratory illness
- middle ear infection
- type 1 diabetes
- childhood leukaemia.
Breastfeeding also benefits mothers by:
- promoting faster recovery from childbirth
- reducing the risks of breast and ovarian cancers in later life
- increasing birth spacing
- reducing the chance of maternal depression
- helping with mother–infant bonding.
Our Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy aims to support all mothers to breastfeed their babies and provide an enabling environment for breastfeeding.
Expressing breastmilk
Mothers may want to express breastmilk for several reasons. It may be needed for premature babies that can’t suck effectively. It can be convenient to express milk to be given later if a mother needs to be away from her baby. Expressing milk can also help increase milk supply.
Read more about expressing breast milk from the:
Weaning
Weaning is when you stop breastfeeding your baby or toddler. It is different to introducing solid foods to your baby and is best done slowly.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare publishes reports about breastfeeding and nutrition in Australia.
Alcohol and breastfeeding
If you are breastfeeding, avoid alcohol to prevent harm to your child. Even a small amount of alcohol can harm a baby's development and may have lifelong effects.
Learn more about alcohol during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Smoking and breastfeeding
If you are breastfeeding, avoid smoking because of health risks to you and your child.
Learn more about the risks of smoking while breastfeeding.
Milk banks and donor breastmilk
For babies who cannot receive their own mother’s breastmilk, donor breastmilk from another woman is the next best thing. This may be particularly important for sick or premature babies.
Usually, hospital intensive care units for babies source donor milk from formal milk banks. These screen donors to ensure donors don’t have medical conditions or a lifestyle that could harm their breastmilk. They also pasteurise and test the milk.
Not all hospitals provide access to donor milk from milk banks.
While you might consider sourcing breastmilk through informal networks, such as family, friends or social media, it isn’t tested or screened and could put your baby at risk.
See the Operational guidelines for human milk banks in Australia and New Zealand. It provides information on collecting, processing and distributing human donor milk.
Infant formula
Not every mother breastfeeds. Some mothers struggle with it, while others choose not to breastfeed. If you are not breastfeeding, the only safe alternative is infant formula. Learn more about feeding your baby and where you can get help.
All infant formula must contain specified amounts of nutrients, including enough energy for your baby to grow. Safe preparation of infant formula is important.
Learn more about feeding infant formula and restrictions on the marketing of infant formula.
Review of the marketing of infant formula by retailers – public survey
Nous Group (Nous) have been engaged by the Department to review the marketing of infant formula by retailers. This survey forms part of the review and aims to:
- collect further information about the types of marketing currently being used by retailers related to infant formula
- understand how frequently these marketing practices are currently seen
- understand how influential they are on customer decision making.
The results of this survey will be used by the Department to inform future policy discussions on infant formula marketing regulation.
The survey is open for public participation between 13 March 2025 to 16 April 2025 and is available via the below link.
Review of the marketing of infant formula by retailers survey
If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Catilin Donaghue-Evans, Project Manager at Nous at Caitlin.Evans@nousgroup.com
Contact
