Breastfeeding is recognized as an important public health issue with enormous social and economic implications. Infants who do not receive breast milk are likely to experience poorer health outcomes than breastfed infants; mothers who do not breastfeed increase their own health risks.
Publications on the topic of breastfeeding are wide ranging. Articles about breastfeeding are currently published journals focused on nursing, midwifery, paediatric, obstetric, family medicine, public health, immunology, physiology, sociology and many other topics. In addition, electronic publishing allows fast publication time for authors and Open Access ensures the journal is easily accessible to readers.
International Breastfeeding Journal encompasses all aspects of breastfeeding. The journal addresses the need for a high quality multi-disciplinary journal in the field.
In order to help women breastfeed successfully, there is a need to understand both the physiology of lactation and the social and cultural context within which breastfeeding occurs. The journal addresses all of these aspects, including identifying women who are at increased risk of not breastfeeding; the impediments to breastfeeding and the health effects of not breastfeeding for infants and their mothers; interventions to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration; and the management of breastfeeding problems.