Media Release
Media Release: Breastfeeding during Disaster
FHB media release on protecting and supporting breastfeeding among mothers displaced by the November 2025 floods, including guidance against well-intentioned but harmful donations of infant formula.
Breastfeeding is the safest source of nutrition for infants in any disaster setting — clean, available without preparation, and providing the antibodies a displaced infant needs to ward off the elevated infection risk that comes with crowded shelters.
Family Health Bureau requests media, donors and well-wishers to avoid distributing infant formula, feeding bottles or teats during the current emergency. Such donations, however well-intentioned, undermine breastfeeding and place infants at higher risk of diarrhoea and respiratory infections when prepared with unsafe water. Mothers in shelters who are unable to breastfeed should be referred to the nearest PHM or MOH office for specialist support, not handed unrequested replacement-feeding supplies.
Family Health Bureau requests media, donors and well-wishers to avoid distributing infant formula, feeding bottles or teats during the current emergency. Such donations, however well-intentioned, undermine breastfeeding and place infants at higher risk of diarrhoea and respiratory infections when prepared with unsafe water. Mothers in shelters who are unable to breastfeed should be referred to the nearest PHM or MOH office for specialist support, not handed unrequested replacement-feeding supplies.
