World Health Organization

Relactation: Review of Experience and Recommendations for Practice World Health Organization

A practical guide to techniques that can be used to re-establish breastfeeding after it has stopped or induce lactation in a woman who has never been pregnant. Addressed to health workers caring for women, the report draws on abundant empirical research indicating that most women can experience relactation or induced lactation when adequately motivated and supported. The report aims to increase knowledge about the technique of relactation as an important health intervention in several special cases. These include premature delivery, case management of infants suffering from acute or persistent diarrhoea, mismanagement of breastfeeding, interruption of breastfeeding because of illness, adoption, emergency situations, and cases where an HIV-infected mother chooses not to breastfeed and seeks a foster mother. With this goal in mind, the report issues practical recommendations based on empirical research, knowledge about the physiological principles of lactation, and studies of the composition of breastmilk in relactation and induced lactation. Particular attention is given to the factors related to the infant, mother or foster mother that affect the success of relactation. The report also offers practical advice on counselling, introduction of the technique, monitoring the infant's intake, the appropriate use of supplements, and indications for the use of pharmacological measures. The report concludes that the techniques of relactation and induced lactation are sufficiently substantiated by empirical research and knowledge of the physiology of breastfeeding to support their use as standard health interventions.