The purpose of this report is to summarize the literature concerning the relationship of breastfeeding and various infant and maternal health outcomes. Two key questions are addressed: 1. What are the benefits and harms for infants and children in terms of short-term outcomes, such as infectious diseases (including otitis media, diarrhea, and lower respiratory tract infections), sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and infant mortality, and longer term outcomes such as cognitive development, childhood cancer (including leukemia), type I and II diabetes, asthma, atopic dermatitis, cardiovascular disease (including hypertension), hyperlipidemia, and obesity, compared among those who mostly breastfeed, mostly formula feed, and mixed feed; and how are these outcomes associated with duration of the type of feeding? Do the harms and benefits differ for any specific subpopulations based on socio-demographic factors? 2. What are the benefits and harms on maternal health short-term outcomes, such as postpartum depression and return to pre-pregnancy weight, and long-term outcomes, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis, compared among breastfeeding, formula feeding, and mixed feeding, and how are these associated with duration of the type of feeding? Do the harms and benefits differ for any specific subpopulations based on socio-demographic factors?

The evaluation of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) by the Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3) focuses on maternal conditions, childhood illness, and malnutrition. Specifically, the chapters address acute illness and undernutrition in children, principally under age 5. It also covers maternal mortality, morbidity, stillbirth, and influences to pregnancy and pre-pregnancy. Volume 3 focuses on developments since the publication of DCP2 and will also include the transition to older childhood, in particular, the overlap and commonality with the child development volume. The DCP3 evaluation of these conditions produced three key findings: 1. There is significant difficulty in measuring the burden of key conditions such as unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, nonsexually transmitted infections, infertility, and violence against women. 2. Investments in the continuum of care can have significant returns for improved and equitable access, health, poverty, and health systems. 3. There is a large difference in how RMNCH conditions affect different income groups; investments in RMNCH can lessen the disparity in terms of both health and financial risk.

The delivery of high quality and equitable care for both mothers and newborns is complex and requires efforts across many sectors. The United States spends more on childbirth than any other country in the world, yet outcomes are worse than other high-resource countries, and even worse for Black and Native American women. There are a variety of factors that influence childbirth, including social determinants such as income, educational levels, access to care, financing, transportation, structural racism and geographic variability in birth settings. It is important to reevaluate the United States' approach to maternal and newborn care through the lens of these factors across multiple disciplines. Birth Settings in America: Outcomes, Quality, Access, and Choice reviews and evaluates maternal and newborn care in the United States, the epidemiology of social and clinical risks in pregnancy and childbirth, birth settings research, and access to and choice of birth settings.

Pregnancy is a viewed as a window to future health. With the birth of the developmental origins of human adult disease hypothesis, research and clinical practice has turned its attention to the influence of maternal factors such as health and lifestyle surrounding pregnancy as a means to understand and prevent the inter-generational inheritance of chronic disease susceptibility. Outcomes during pregnancy have long-lasting impacts on both women on children. Moreover, nutrition early in life can influence growth and the establishment of lifelong eating habits and behaviors. This Special Issue on “Nutrition during Pregnancy and Lactation: Implications for Maternal and Infant Health” is intended to highlight new epidemiological, mechanistic and interventional studies that investigate maternal nutrition around the pregnancy period on maternal and infant outcomes. Submissions may include original research, narrative reviews, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

WHO and UNICEF jointly developed this global strategy to focus world attention on the impact that feeding practices have on the nutritional status, growth and development, health, and thus the very survival of infants and young children. The strategy is the result of a comprehensive two-year participatory process. It is based on the evidence of nutrition's significance in the early months and years of life, and of the crucial role that appropriate feeding practices play in achieving optimal health outcomes. The strategy is intended as a guide for action; it identifies interventions with a proven positive impact; it emphasizes providing mothers and families the support they need to carry out their crucial roles, and it explicitly defines the obligations and responsibilities in this regards of governments, international organizations, and other concerned parties.

The second edition of this best-selling book has been thoroughly revised and expanded to reflect the significant changes and advances made in systematic reviewing. New features include discussion on the rationale, meta-analyses of prognostic and diagnostic studies and software, and the use of systematic reviews in practice.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) began 40 years ago as a pilot program and has since grown to serve over 8 million pregnant women, and mothers of and their infants and young children. Today the program serves more than a quarter of the pregnant women and half of the infants in the United States, at an annual cost of about $6.2 billion. Through its contribution to the nutritional needs of pregnant, breastfeeding, and post-partum women; infants; and children under 5 years of age; this federally supported nutrition assistance program is integral to meeting national nutrition policy goals for a significant portion of the U.S. population. To assure the continued success of the WIC, Congress mandated that the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reevaluate the program's food packages every 10 years. In 2014, the USDA asked the Institute of Medicine to undertake this reevaluation to ensure continued alignment with the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This, the second report of this series, provides a summary of the work of phase I of the study, and serves as the analytical underpinning for phase II in which the committee will report its final conclusions and recommendations.