World Breastfeeding Week: Why breastfeeding is crucial, including in crises

At Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), we take this opportunity to highlight our work along the migration routes in Latin America, where the challenges to breastfeeding are even greater, and to reaffirm the importance of safeguarding this right even in the most difficult circumstances.

Why is breastfeeding so important?

Breast milk—especially colostrum, the initial milk—contains all the essential nutrients and antibodies a baby needs during their first six months of life. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is one of the most effective ways to ensure a child’s health and survival. Yet less than half of all babies are exclusively breastfed during this critical period.

Beyond its nutritional benefits, breastfeeding also fosters early bonding between mother and child. Skin-to-skin contact, shared time, and sustained eye contact during breastfeeding help create emotional attachment, which plays a vital role in a child’s emotional development during this crucial phase.

Breastfeeding is also associated with numerous other benefits. For babies, it helps prevent chronic illnesses later in life and supports emotional and cognitive development. For mothers, it promotes faster recovery after childbirth and reduces the risk of diseases such as breast and ovarian cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and postpartum depression.

Lastly, breastfeeding has a positive impact both economically and environmentally: it involves no financial cost and produces no waste, making it a sustainable and accessible option.

What conditions are needed for successful breastfeeding?

Sustained breastfeeding doesn’t rely solely on a mother’s will. It requires time, energy, support, and a set of essential conditions:

· Access to sufficient and balanced food

· Emotional support and care

· Safe and private spaces to breastfeed

· Early initiation of breastfeeding, ideally within the first hours of life

· Exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months

· Clear, up-to-date information about breastfeeding practices

· Proper technique, along with preparation and education on breastfeeding

· Minimum hygiene conditions

However, these conditions are not always guaranteed. In situations of forced migration, displacement, or humanitarian crises, barriers are compounded, making it even more difficult to maintain breastfeeding.

What are the challenges of breastfeeding along Latin America’s migration routes?

Between late 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, the region experienced a series of changes that directly affected migrants. The U.S. government implemented highly restrictive immigration measures. This included eliminating the Customs and Borders Protection tool known as the CBP One app, for initiating asylum procedures and increasing security measures across the U.S.–Mexico border. These actions had an immediate impact, and between January and February 2025, migration flows through Central America and Mexico decreased. However, this did not result in improved conditions.

While all people on the move are vulnerable, the impact is especially severe for women and children. In recent years, MSF teams have increasingly encountered families headed by women travelling alone or with children. Women and infants in transit often face:

· Malnutrition and lack of access to appropriate food

· No safe spaces to rest or breastfeed

· Extreme physical exhaustion and emotional stress

· Exposure to violence, including sexual violence

These circumstances not only endanger the mother’s health but also directly affect the baby, limiting the possibility of safe and continuous breastfeeding.

What has MSF’s response been?

In this context, MSF has provided medical and psychological care to women, children, and families on the move in key locations in Latin America such as Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and Panama, through mobile clinics, shelters, and a comprehensive care centre.

Between January and February 2025, MSF teams in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama:

· Provided more than 90,000 primary health consultations, many of them for pregnant women or those with young children

· Carried out 11,850 sexual and reproductive health consultations, including family planning, prenatal, and postnatal care

The constantly changing dynamics of migration routes in Mexico and other parts of the continent require our teams to adapt our activities continually. We prioritize areas where humanitarian needs are most urgent, due to high levels of violence and the many hardships migrants face on their journey. We also offer support to people who have been deported or forcibly returned.

Caring for mothers is caring for babies

Along Latin America’s migration route, we have provided comprehensive care to breastfeeding mothers, including medical assistance, supplemental, balanced food, and nutritional support in cases of child malnutrition. Supporting both mothers and babies during the breastfeeding period is essential, as the healthy development of both depends on it.

Protecting breastfeeding in crisis settings cannot rely solely on individual efforts. Effective public policies are crucial to ensure access to food, safe spaces, and, in many cases, the opportunity for mothers to rest.