Breastfeeding has many health benefits for both the mother and infant. Breast milk contains all the nutrients an infant needs in the first six months of life. Breastfeeding protects against diarrhoea and common childhood illnesses such as pneumonia, and may also have longer-term health benefits such as reducing the risk of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence.

While most infants born at term can breastfeed directly following birth, some term infants and many preterm infants may not be able to do so for various reasons, and require feeding by alternative methods. Such methods may include cups, spoons, syringes, parenteral feeding tubes or feeding bottles or teats. The inability to breastfeed directly may only be temporary, and mothers and infants should be supported to resume or initiate breastfeeding as soon as they are able.

Evidence suggests that cups, spoons or feeding bottles and teats may be used to feed term infants expressed breast milk or other feeds* when necessary, while cups or spoons are preferable for preterm infants. For preterm infants, non-nutritive sucking or oral stimulation using pacifiers, a gloved finger or a breast that is not yet producing milk, may also decrease the time necessary to transition to full oral feeding.

* When medically indicated, a combination of expressed breast milk and other fluids, or other fluids alone.