Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Breastfeeding Benefits

Breastfeeding benefits are the documented physiological, developmental, and health advantages that human milk and the act of breastfeeding confer on infants and mothers. For the infant, human milk supplies species-specific nutrition with a dynamic balance of macronutrients, bioactive proteins, oligosaccharides, horm…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 9 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 71× across the literature 🔖 ISSN 2644-0105 🗓 Reviewed July 2026

Overview

Breastfeeding benefits are the documented physiological, developmental, and health advantages that human milk and the act of breastfeeding confer on infants and mothers. For the infant, human milk supplies species-specific nutrition with a dynamic balance of macronutrients, bioactive proteins, oligosaccharides, hormones, and immunological factors that support growth, gut and immune maturation, and protection against infection. Components such as antibodies and other immune mediators contribute to early defence, while the composition of milk adapts over the course of lactation and the day. For the mother, breastfeeding is associated with benefits including post-partum recovery and longer-term health effects, and it supports maternal-infant bonding. Exclusive breastfeeding in early infancy is widely promoted, and uptake is shaped by maternal assets, knowledge, beliefs, religion, socioeconomic circumstances, and local support. The articles gathered here examine melatonin in breast milk and its implications for perinatal health, maternal assets and milk expression, awareness of milk composition, determinants and beliefs surrounding exclusive breastfeeding across diverse populations, the influence of religion on lactation practices, and the effect of storage containers on the macronutrient integrity of expressed milk. Recurring themes include milk composition and its bioactive constituents, determinants of breastfeeding initiation and duration, complementary feeding, and the safe handling of expressed milk. The subject sits within Breastfeeding Biology, infant nutrition, and maternal and child health.

Research published in this journal

9 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

2019

Examination of Maternal Assets and Breast Milk Expression

K. Bai YeonCorresponding author
Associate Professor, Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey 07043
Exact topic Breastfeeding Biology Cited by 1 doi:10.14302/issn.2644-0105.jbfb-19-2752

How this research is being cited

The 9 articles above have been cited 71 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Breastfeeding Benefits, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in Breastfeeding Biology (ISSN 2644-0105).

Journal editorial board
Gail Christopher · United States Ann Anderson Berry · United States

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.