Breastfeeding is critical for the healthy growth and development of infants. A diverse range of infant-feeding methods are used around the world today. Many methods involve feeding infants with expressed human milk obtained through human milk exchange. Human milk exchange includes human milk banking, human milk sharing, and markets in which human milk may be purchased or sold by individuals or commercial entities. In this review, we examine peer-reviewed scholarly literature pertaining to human milk exchange in the social sciences and basic human milk sciences. We also examine current position and policy statements for human milk sharing. Our review highlights areas in need of future research. This review is a valuable resource for healthcare professionals and others who provide evidence-based care to families about infant feeding.

Banking on Milk takes the reader on a journey through the everyday life of donor human milk banking across the United Kingdom (UK) and beyond, asking questions such as the following: Why do people decide to donate? How do parents of recipients hear about human milk? How does milk donation impact on lifestyle choices? Chapters record the practical everyday reality of work in a milk bank by drawing on extensive ethnographic observations and sensitive interview data from donors, mothers of recipients and the staff of four different milk banks from across the UK, and visits to milk banks across Europe and North America. It discusses the ongoing pressures to do with supply, demand and distribution. An empirically informed "ethnography of the contemporary", where both biosociality and biopower abound, this book includes an exploration of how milk banks evolved from registering wet nurses with hospitals, showing how a regulatory culture of medical authority began to quantify and organize human milk as a commodity. This book is a valuable read for all those with an interest in breastfeeding or organ and tissue donation from a range of fields, including midwifery, sociology, anthropology, geography, cultural studies and public health.

Despite a number of public health and policy‐based initiatives, Ireland's national breastfeeding rates are among the lowest globally. Regionally, the Mid‐West of Ireland has historically had low breastfeeding initiation rates, and parts of its major urban area such as Limerick City suffer the highest levels of economic deprivation in the country. In that context, this repeated cross‐sectional study analysed breastfeeding initiation trends in the Mid‐West of Ireland for two decades, from 2001 to 2020 inclusively. Statistical analysis revealed persistently low percentages of women initiating breastfeeding in the region. Time series analyses of the data demonstrated that overall breastfeeding rates are increasing, but continue to be lower than Irish national averages. From these findings and a narrative review of published research, we determined 10 plausible reasons for these consistently low breastfeeding rates. Arising from these, we propose ‘10 Priorities’ to increase the breastfeeding initiation rates in Ireland.

The exclusive breastfeeding rate in Ireland is very low with extremely slow annual growth. The population of immigrants in Ireland is increasing. Improving exclusive breastfeeding practice among immigrants may contribute to the overall improvement of exclusive breastfeeding rates in Ireland. This study was conducted to elicit suggestions on improving exclusive breastfeeding rate for the first 6 months among Chinese immigrants in Ireland. Fourteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with Chinese immigrant mothers residing in Ireland, who breastfed exclusively for 4 to 6 months. Interviews were recorded and transcribed in Chinese. Data were analyzed using a qualitative thematic analysis. Themes were developed through categorization of codes and via in-depth discussion between two researchers. Themes generated from the thematic content analysis were: 1) suggestions for new mothers: being strong mentally and getting support from family and friends; 2) suggestions for employers: creating a supportive workplace by setting up private rooms and breastmilk storage facilities; 3) suggestions for healthcare professionals: advocating breastfeeding in the hospital and addressing cultural differences by recruiting multilingual staff; 4) suggestions for the government: promoting breastfeeding by initiating societal and policy changes. The key findings emerging from this study may be considered in the development of breastfeeding promotion strategies in Ireland. Our findings could also have implications for other English-speaking countries with low rates of exclusive breastfeeding.

Background: Migration to another country has a potential influence on breastfeeding practices. A significant difference in breastfeeding rates between Irish nationals and non-nationals has been reported. This study was conducted to explore breastfeeding practices of the Chinese in Ireland, one of the largest Irish ethnic groups, and to explore the influence of living in Ireland on breastfeeding practices. This is the first and the only migration study so far on breastfeeding practices among the Chinese in Ireland.Methods: A sequential explanatory mixed methods approach was adopted. The first phase was a cross-sectional self-administered retrospective mailed survey, to explore breastfeeding practices and determinants of breastfeeding among a convenience sample of Chinese mothers living in Ireland (n = 322). Recruitment was conducted in the Dublin metropolitan area, with the application of the snowball technique to increase sample size. The second phase consisted of seven semi-structured focus groups (n = 33) conducted in Dublin, to explore the influence of living in Ireland on breastfeeding among Chinese mothers who had given birth in Ireland. Quantitative data were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses, and informed the qualitative data collection. Qualitative data were analyzed by thematic content analyses, to explain and enrich the qualitative results.Results: The breastfeeding initiation rate among Chinese immigrants to Ireland who gave birth in Ireland (CMI) (75.6%) was high and close to that of Chinese immigrant mothers who gave birth in China (CMC) (87.2%). However, giving birth in Ireland was independently associated with a shorter duration of breastfeeding (< 4 months) among Chinese immigrants. Qualitative results explained that a shorter breastfeeding duration among CMI than that of CMC was mainly due to cultural conflicts, a lack of family support, language barriers, immigrants’ low socioeconomic status, and mothers’ preference for infant formula on the Irish market. Both quantitative and qualitative data revealed a strong cultural belief in the efficacy of the traditional Chinese postpartum diet for breast milk production for both CMC and CMI. Antenatal feeding intention was a strong determinant for breastfeeding initiation and duration among CMI.Conclusion: Migration to Ireland was found to be associated with a shorter duration of breastfeeding of the Chinese. Culturally sensitive and language-specific education and support of breastfeeding is needed for the Chinese mothers living in Ireland. The mixed methods design presented here might serve as a template for future migration research on breastfeeding.