Breastfeeding Friendly Food Banks

Food Pantries and Breastfeeding Families Food pantries play a critical role in supporting breastfeeding families. It’s important for food pantry staff and volunteers to understand how to support families choosing to breastfeed. It is also important for them to understand how to support breastfeeding staff and volunteers by providing them with adequate break time and space to express breast milk or breastfeed their babies while working their shifts. In many places across the United States, nearly 90% of families choose to start breastfeeding. But for them to continue breastfeeding their babies exclusively and for longer periods of time, they need support. Families with lower incomes also tend to have reduced access to breastfeeding support, and they experience more barriers; thus, they often tend to stop breastfeeding earlier.

The WHO Code recommends that food distribution sites should place infant formula, as well as related feeding supplies, coupons, and promotional materials from infant formula manufacturers, out of view from clients. This will help to prevent the sites from unwittingly participating in infant formula companies’ marketing practices that tend to exploit low-income and vulnerable families. Research shows that not adhering to the WHO Code and offering free infant formula samples, gifts, coupons, and promotional materials negatively impacts breastfeeding success.