Management of common breastfeeding issues.

Breastfeeding provides ideal nutrition, growth hormones, and antibodies that change over time as growing infants' and children's needs change and provides these inexpensively, with no harm to the environment. Breastfed infants are healthier than other infants overall, and research indicates that the health benefits may continue on into adulthood. Increasingly, women are choosing to initiate breastfeeding in the hospital, but the attrition starts early and is dramatic. For women to meet their breastfeeding goals, physicians must not only give lip service to "breast is best" but also become knowledgeable in breastfeeding management and actively promote breastfeeding in their practices and in their communities.