Practices and Policies That Support Breastfeeding Among Military Women: A Systematic Review.

Certain perinatal practices designed to encourage early skin-to-skin contact appear to improve breastfeeding initiation and duration among women serving in the U.S. military. However, there is an overall lack of quality evidence supporting effective practices and policies associated with increased breastfeeding initiation and duration in this population. Given the recent movement toward policy changes that support pregnant and postpartum service members across services, more research is needed to determine the impact of these and other practices and policies on breastfeeding rates, specifically among enlisted service members who have demonstrated lower breastfeeding rates than officers.