Countdown to Book Launch
Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
From the Cofounders of the Fed Is Best Foundation
Fed Is Best Fed Is Best
This comprehensive and compassionate guide offers a revolutionary look at what defines “best” infant feeding for every family.
About Fed Is Best
From the founders of the Fed Is Best Foundation, this comprehensive and compassionate guide offers a revolutionary look at what defines “best” infant feeding for every family.
For babies, like for all living things, fed is best. But the current stringent emphasis on exclusive breastfeeding is putting some babies at risk by depriving parents of a full understanding of how to tell when breastfeeding alone is not enough—and what to do about it.
Backed by scientific research and written by healthcare professionals, this guide will help any new parent make informed choices and feel empowered, not shamed, about how they feed their baby. This groundbreaking book debunks widely taught myths about breastfeeding and destigmatizes supplementation, a practice that has been employed throughout human history to protect infants when breastfeeding was not enough.
Let Fed Is Best help you find the feeding method that’s right for you and your baby—whether that’s exclusive breastfeeding, exclusive formula feeding, or anything in between.
To learn more about the Fed Is Best Foundation, click below.
Praise for Fed Is Best
Marianne Neifert, MD
Pediatrician, Cofounder of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine
"Masterfully written . . . a profound contribution to making medical complications of insufficient feeding of breastfed babies a 'never-ever event.' It is a must-read for every lactation care provider, pediatrician, and expectant parent."
Enrique Gomez, MD
Pediatrician, Neonatologist
"Nobody denies that human milk is the gold standard food for infants but we have failed to also endorse that well-fed infants should be the gold standard. This well-balanced book is intended to support mothers, fathers, and all the people involved in the journey of newborn feeding by bringing up the realities of different feeding methods so that parents can make an informed choice."
Courtney Jung, PhD
Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto
"Fed Is Best. That's the simple premise of this important book that explains how 'breast is best' has led mothers and health professionals to prioritize breastfeeding over making sure a baby is eating, with results that have endangered babies' health and even lives. Their practical advice teaches parents how to recognize the danger signs of underfeeding and what to do about it."
Joan Wolf, PhD
Associate Professor, Women and Gender Studies at Texas A&M University
"Fed Is Best bravely tells the truth: babies thrive on breast milk, formula, or a combination of the two. May everyone who cares about families, science, or public health shout it from the rooftops."
Deedi Brown
Professional Book Reviewer
If you are expecting a baby, this book is required reading. Full stop. Fed Is Best is an incredibly thorough, helpful, carefully researched book that presents the most current data on breastfeeding, formula feeding, and combination feeding in a way that respects every person’s autonomy and informed choice. Its thesis is that when it comes to feeding, the most dangerous thing you can do is underfeed an infant. Read her full review here.
Why should you read Fed Is Best?
What You'll Find
Part eye-opening exposé, Fed Is Best . . .
- Breaks down everything you’ll need to know about the dangers of insufficient feeding of infants
- Debunks myths around colostrum, the newborn stomach size, newborn and infant nutritional requirements, signs of infant hunger, and how common it is to have true low milk supply
- Discusses the global rise in hospitalizations for insufficient feeding complications in newborns resulting from the push to promote exclusive breastfeeding for almost all babies
Fed Is Best also provides . . .
- Detailed guidance on how to tell if your baby is getting enough to eat, particularly in those crucial first few days of life
- Supplementation strategies that protect and encourage continued breastfeeding
- Evidence-based advice on exclusive breastfeeding, combination feeding, formula feeding, and pumped milk feeding, with sample schedules for maintaining milk supply and getting more sleep
- Links to extensive Fed Is Best online resources like the Fed Is Best Breastfeeding Guide and Feeding Plan
- Feeding strategies and support that protect postpartum mental health.
Why Fed Is Best
Kristen Umunna
Mother, Photographer
I’ve never felt so worthless in my mothering journey. I was suicidal and failing at breastfeeding...I was terrified that I was ruining my child’s future...I was eventually diagnosed with PPD and was advised by my doctor to switch to all formula to help me through my depression. I did so and the depression began to lift. It was the best decision for me and my mental health. We were both thriving for the first time, and it was glorious.
Steph Montgomery
Writer, Health Advocate
I always planned to breastfeed. When I didn’t make enough milk and my daughter was admitted jaundiced, dehydrated, having lost 20 percent of her weight—I felt like I had harmed her by not trying hard enough and failing at breastfeeding. In reality, it was the intense pressure to breastfeed exclusively that did that. There’s so much more to being a good parent than how you nourish your babies. When it comes down to it, fed is best.
Lindsay Beeson
Mother
I was told supplementing would end my breastfeeding. I was told how tiny the infant stomach was supposed to be. I was told that constant crying and nursing were normal. When we brought him back, he had lost 13%. I was angry that despite his obvious distress and weight loss my concerns were ignored. I was devastated that I couldn't exclusively breastfeed my son. But I am proud I made it to 20 months of combo feeding! Fed is best!
Sarah Ferguson
Mother
Even though I exclusively breastfed my first child with no issues, my second was readmitted for jaundice, which made her too sleepy to get enough from breastfeeding. We started supplementing with formula to help her gain weight. Lynnette helped improve her latch and gave me a plan to increase my milk supply through pumping and getting more sleep! Seven months later, I’m able to provide all my baby needs through exclusive breastfeeding!
Farrah
L&D Nurse, IBCLC
I still sometimes feel a pit in my stomach wondering what would happen if I continued exclusively breastfeeding. I am so grateful to Fed Is Best Foundation for helping me see the truth that my baby was hungry. I decided to become an IBCLC after my own struggles. My goal is to help moms reach their feeding goals in a safe and evidence-based way and most importantly to ensure that they are heard.
Alix Dolstra
Mother, Digital Designer
I planned on formula feeding. I support breastfeeding, but I won’t do it myself. One of the most precious first memories I have was watching our daughter bundled up in the arms of her loving father; he cried tears of joy as he fed her her first bottle. We do things 50/50, even feeds. We slept in shifts and both of us, though still exhausted, were rested enough. . . We were a team from the very start and that was important for us.
Sarah Edge
Mother, Psychotherapist
I struggled to breastfeed my son and felt like I was failing him. The relentless pursuit of breastfeeding had a huge impact on my mental health. Once we introduced formula, he began to thrive, and eventually, I did too. After my experience with breastfeeding trauma, guilt, and shame, I was started my psychotherapy practice providing judgment-free support to women and birthing people, especially those with difficulties related to infant feeding.
Joanna Kwaloff-Vedaa
Mother
This is my second low-supply nursling; not just low, dramatically low. I wasn't sure we’d make it this long and I’m thrilled to have made it over three years nursing this sweet baby! I just want moms struggling with low supply to know that your nursing relationship is more than the number of ounces you produce. Thanks to Lynnette at Fed Is Best for helping me get here!
From Pediatrician and Cofounder of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine
The term breastfeeding morbidity should be an oxymoron! Yet far too many newborns continue to unnecessarily suffer medical complications due to our zealous societal promotion of exclusive breastfeeding from birth. The fact is that a substantial percentage of nursing mothers do not produce sufficient milk in the first postpartum days to fully nourish their newborns. Furthermore, a large subset of newborns is not yet able to nurse effectively in the first weeks of life. The result has been an ongoing, unacceptable rise in hospital readmissions of newborns suffering complications of underfeeding, sometimes with irreversible medical consequences. Other new parents are unable to eventually establish or maintain an adequate milk supply over time.
The prevalence of insufficient milk not only undermines exclusive and extended breastfeeding, but it also contributes to unacceptable breastfeeding-related morbidities, including neonatal hospitalizations for excessive infant weight loss, dehydration, jaundice, and low blood sugar, as well as triggering profound maternal grief and self-blame. Despite this alarming reality, new breastfeeding parents routinely receive misguided warnings about the “risks of feeding formula” to their underfed babies. In Fed Is Best, Dr. Christie del Castillo-Hegyi, Jody Segrave-Daly, and Lynnette Hafken adeptly make the compelling case that providing adequate nutrition to your baby is far superior to underfeeding an infant solely with human milk.
Fed Is Best outlines everything expectant and new parents need to know about ensuring that their newborn continues to receive adequate nutrients after birth to optimize each baby’s development, satisfy their hunger, and keep them healthy and thriving. Whether you plan to nurse your baby, feed formula, or do both, Fed is Best provides all the judgment-free guidance you need to ensure that being “adequately fed is best” for your baby’s ultimate welfare and for your peace of mind!
— Marianne Neifert, MD, FAAP
About Us
Meet the Authors
Christie del Castillo-Hegyi, MD is a board-certified emergency physician and one of the Cofounders of the Fed Is Best Foundation. Her own breastfeeding experience led her to discover the fundamental flaws of how breastfeeding was being taught to parents and how it was causing them to not recognize serious complications of underfeeding, like jaundice, dehydration, and hypoglycemia. She has published on and spoken in medical conferences about their long-term consequences and how to change parent education and hospital guidelines to ensure safe and sufficient feeding for all infants. The Fed Is Best Foundation’s work has gained global media attention and it’s message has resonated with hundreds of thousands of families as well as health professionals across the globe.
Jody Segrave-Daly, RN and IBCLC-Retired is one of the Cofounders and Executive Director of the Fed Is Best Foundation. She recognized during her over 30-year career as a newborn ICU nurse and lactation consultant how parents were being led to underfeed their breastfed infants to the point of needing hospitalization; and that it could have been prevented with supplementation when their infants showed signs of persistent hunger. She saw how promoting breastfeeding by vilifying formula was leading to infant harm and maternal mental health problems. She has sought to change the standard of infant feeding support to prioritize the health and well-being of the birthing parent and baby, and to be more inclusive of the vast diversity of biological, psychological, and social circumstances that make “best” infant feeding different for every family.
Lynnette Hafken, MA, IBCLC is Director of Support Services of the Fed Is Best Foundation. As a former La Leche League leader and hospital and private practice lactation consultant, she has spent her over 20-year career helping families to breastfeed in a safe, enjoyable, and sustainable way; in some cases, supporting parents who need or choose to formula feed to ensure their baby and family thrive. She saw how low milk supply and insufficient feeding problems were causing unnecessary physical and emotional suffering in babies and their mothers, which led her to adopt the “fed is best” philosophy. Through her clinical and foundation work, she has sought to advance the core values of Fed Is Best by listening to parents, honoring their choices, and protecting their babies with empathy and scientific integrity.
Copyright © 2024. Fed is Best Foundation. All Rights Reserved