The International Breastfeeding Journal is the leading multidisciplinary journal for all aspects of breastfeeding research. Under the distinguished leadership of Prof. Lisa Amir (2006-2025), the journal has grown significantly in visibility and impact, featuring high quality research from around the world. The new Editors-in-Chief, Sonia Hernández-Cordero and Cecília Tomori are excited to build on this work to lead the journal and elevate breastfeeding research further in a perilous moment for global public health where gains in maternal child health are fragile and unequal, and investing in breastfeeding remains critical. Recognizing breastfeeding as the first food system, the journal is particularly committed to advancing research that situates breastfeeding withing broader social, economic, political, health and food systems that shape maternal and child health, equity, and planetary sustainability.

Tell us about your background and what motivated you to research breastfeeding?

Sonia Hernández-Cordero (SH-C): My background is in nutrition and public health with a particular focus on breastfeeding policies and programs in diverse global contexts. What motivated me to work in breastfeeding research was recognizing that breastfeeding is not simply an individual behavior, but a powerful public health, social, and equity issue shaped by health systems, policies, commercial forces, and social conditions. I am especially interested in generating evidence that can help create environments where women and families are truly supported to breastfeed as they wish.

 Cecília Tomori (CT): My interest in breastfeeding has been interdisciplinary from its beginnings. As an anthropologist, I deeply value the impacts and experiences of breastfeeding across human evolution, history and culture. I also see breastfeeding not simply as a matter of individual decisions about building families and raising children, but as entangled in unequal sociocultural and political economic systems. My public health lens unites these perspectives with how to analyze and address inequities in these systems so that all who wish to breastfeed can do so as they desire and receive the support they need throughout their breastfeeding journey.

What are some of the most pressing issues in breastfeeding research today?

 CT: A key issue is to situate breastfeeding research appropriately in the broader context of the systems that either hinder breastfeeding or make it possible. Much of current clinical and research training either ignores the importance of breastfeeding altogether or frames it as a matter of mothers’ responsibility where outcomes can be “fixed” with individualistic approaches. Yet our work on the 2023 Lancet Breastfeeding Series (on which Sonia and I are both co-authors) shows that most mothers around the world want to breastfeed and there are major inequities in who gets the opportunity to do so. We need more research that recognizes that the primary responsibility lies with society and governments to create enabling, equitable systems for breastfeeding and contributes to improving these systems.

 SH-C: One of the most pressing issues is the need for stronger evidence on how effectively implement and scale interventions and policies that enable women and families to achieve their infant feeding goals. We already know many of the actions that can protect, promote and support breastfeeding, but there are still major gaps in understanding how to implement them sustainably and equitably across different contexts. This includes policies such as maternity protection, regulation of the marketing of breastmilk substitutes, health system strengthening, and community-based support. Ultimately, breastfeeding research must help to ensure that women and families are genuinely able to exercise their right to make informed decisions about how they feed their babies, within environments that support those choices.

What are some barriers to creating more enabling environments for breastfeeding?

 SH-C: Key barriers include strong commercial interest that undermine breastfeeding and the persistent belief that breastfeeding is solely the responsibility of mothers, rather than something that requires broader social, policy and health system support.

 CT: In addition to the above, there is lack of adequate investment in the structures and systems that support breastfeeding and insufficient integration across systems. This is particularly salient in the context of broader social inequities and the climate crisis, which threaten to further erode these systems and make infants and young children, their mothers and families more vulnerable.  

What do you look forward to most in the coming months of leading International Breastfeeding Journal?

 CT: We look forward to receiving submissions from diverse settings that don’t just identify barriers to breastfeeding but also engage with the literature on policies and practices to yield effective approaches to change these systems across settings and sectors to enable breastfeeding and create opportunities for resilience in the first food system.

 SH-C: We look forward to continuing to position breastfeeding as a systemic issue through the publication of diverse global evidence spanning biological, clinical, and policy level research that advances understanding of how policies, programs, and broader health, community, and social systems can more effectively protect, promote, and support breastfeeding across contexts.

Don't miss key updates from International Breastfeeding Journal: 

• Open collection: Becoming Baby-friendly: What works?
• Journal Updates