breastfeed

verb

breast·​feed ˈbrest-ˌfēd 

variants or breast-feed

breastfed or breast-fed; breastfeeding or breast-feeding; breastfeeds or breast-feeds

transitive verb

: to feed (a baby) from a mother's breast

intransitive verb

1

: to breastfeed a baby

… more women are breastfeeding than ever before …

—Lauren Sandler

2

of a baby : to feed oneself by sucking milk from a mother's breast

breastfed adjective

or breast-fed

breastfed babies

breastfeeder noun

or breast-feeder

breastfeeding noun

or breast-feeding

Synonyms

• nurse
• suckle
• wet-nurse

Examples of breastfeed in a Sentence

believes that all women should breast-feed their babies

Recent Examples on the Web

Infants usually stay with their mother more at the beginning just because of things like breastfeeding, but your child’s time with her father will eventually increase. —Jann Blackstone, Chicago Tribune, 10 June 2025

As seen in photos that quickly went viral, runner — and new mom — Stephanie Case sat down at three points along the demanding race course to breastfeed her six-month-old daughter. —Bill Chappell, NPR, 30 May 2025

Bonus: once you’re finished breastfeeding, this utilitarian butter can double as lip balm. —Pamela Brill, Parents, 22 May 2025

In a February interview with Time, which named her as one of their Women of the Year, Kidman spoke about her experience with breastfeeding. —Hannah Sacks, People.com, 22 May 2025

Historically, before contraception, women didn’t necessarily bleed all the time, because a lot of time was spent either being pregnant or breastfeeding. —Kameryn Griesser, CNN Money, 21 May 2025

The class covers what to expect when initiating breastfeeding, skin-to-skin holding, positioning, deep latch techniques, pumps and pumping, and basic troubleshooting. — A Ready for Baby newborn care class takes place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays. —Orlando Sentinel Staff, The Orlando Sentinel, 29 May 2025

The path to achieving this goal was already a digressive one, weaving together singing competitions, cloned dogs and a bald-capped Fielder breastfeeding from a giant puppet. —Alison Herman, Variety, 26 May 2025

When tested on 12 breastfeeding mothers over periods of up to 17 weeks, the technology was found to be highly accurate at gauging their infants' milk consumption. —Ben Coxworth, New Atlas, 17 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1869, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Kids Definition

breast-feed

verb

ˈbrest-ˌfēd

breast-fed

-ˌfed

; breast-feeding

: to feed a baby from a mother's breast

Medical Definition

breastfeed

verb

breast·​feed

variants or breast-feed

ˈbrest-ˌfēd

breastfed or breast-fed; breastfeeding or breast-feeding; breastfeeds or breast-feeds

transitive verb

: to feed (a baby) from a mother's breast

intransitive verb

1

: to breastfeed a baby

2

of a baby : to feed oneself by sucking milk from a mother's breast

breastfed adjective

or breast-fed

breastfed babies

breastfeeder noun

or breast-feeder

This class for first-time breastfeeders will be from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

—The Reno (Nevada) Gazette-Journal

On average, infants who were exclusive breast-feeders continued to drink more as they got older …

—The Philadelphia Inquirer

breastfeeding noun

or breast-feeding