Breastfeeding takes center stage in a special issue of the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health. Good news for health care providers looking to update or deepen their understanding of breastfeeding and human lactation.

For the second time in seven years,the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, a publication of the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) has dedicated an entire issue to breastfeeding related topics is a special issue titled: Promoting and Supporting Breastfeeding: A Guide for Clinical Practice.

Feature articles include:

• International Breastfeeding Initiatives and their Relevance to the Current State of Breastfeeding in the United States by Marsha Walker
• Inside the Lactating Breast: The Latest Anatomy Research by Donna T. Geddes
• How Breastfeeding Works: a review of the synthesis and composition of breast milk and breastfeeding patterns of babies by Jacqueline C. Kent
• Assessment of Breastfeeding and Infant Growth by Pamela D. Hill, Teresa S. Johnson
• Increased Lactation Risk for Late Preterm Infants and Mothers: Evidence and Management Strategies to Protect Breastfeeding, by Paula P. Meier, Lydia M. Furman, Marguerite Degenhardt
• Recognizing and Treating Delayed or Failed Lactogenesis II by Nancy M. Hurst
• An Update on the Recognition and Management of Lactational Breast Inflammation, a review of mastitis and its various manifestations and treatments by Christine M. Betzold
• Lactation Complicated by Overweight and Obesity: Supporting the Mother and Newborn by Cecilia Jevitt, Ivonne Hernandez, Maureen Groër
• Contraception and Lactation by Joyce King
• Impact of Birthing Practices on the Breastfeeding Dyad by Linda J. Smith
• Breastfeeding Peer Counselors in the United States: Helping to Build a Culture and Tradition of Breastfeeding by Beverly Rossman

An accompanying editorial explores how health care providers talk to their patients or clients about breastfeeding, asserting that they can have a big impact on the quality of their breastfeeding experience and whether or not they breastfeed at all. Not wanting to make women feel guilty is no excuse for not conveying accurate and scientific information. In fact, women are often upset if they discover that they were not given proper advice.

My own research supports this. Many women have told me that they would have breastfed if only their health care providers had explained to them that breastmilk and formula are not equivalent options. Even more women have told me they wanted to breastfeed but quit sooner than intended because they were given inaccurate information or poor advice when problems occurred. Perhaps the most regrettable situations, though, are when the advice they were given created the problems in the first place!

Given that many health care providers themselves freely acknowledge the lack of education they received during their medical education and training, accessible resources that provide up-to-date information are vital. Full-text articles of this special continuing education issue of the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health are available to ACNM members and personal subscribers. Others can access the table of contents and the abstracts. In addition, there are two free resources health care providers can share with parents: What to Expect in the Early Days of Breastfeeding and Bringing Your Baby to Breast: Positioning and Latch.