World Health Organization position on breastfeeding

We read the article “Breastfeeding and maternal diet in atopic dermatitis,”¹ published in the December 2011 issue of Canadian Family Physician. We wish to point out a factual error in the article.

Under the heading of “Breastfeeding,” the authors wrote that “The World Health Organization currently recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months and continuing to breastfeed, as well as introducing other foods, until 2 years of age.”¹ The World Health Organization recommends “exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and ... the timely introduction of adequate and safe complementary foods with continued breastfeeding up to two years or beyond.”²

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