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

Examples of breastfeed in a Sentence

believes that all women should breast-feed their babies

Recent Examples on the Web

But Wootten was hospitalized for nearly three weeks, keeping her from breastfeeding. —Cara Lynn Shultz, PEOPLE, 22 Oct. 2025

Later in the memoir, however, Federline makes some pretty serious claims about Spears drinking while pregnant and breastfeeding her kids while drinking and doing drugs. —Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 20 Oct. 2025

But Hausman had stopped breastfeeding. —Madeline Mitchell, USA Today, 18 Oct. 2025

Kevin Federline claims that Britney Spears drank while pregnant and did cocaine while breastfeeding in new excerpts from the former dancer’s upcoming memoir, published in several news outlets. —Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 16 Oct. 2025

The next morning, Federline called his lawyer Mark Kaplan to draft a legal letter demanding that Spears stop breastfeeding their children, and Federline left town to promote his record, ignoring her calls and messages. —Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 16 Oct. 2025

For the next phase of research, Ramanan’s lab proposed further exploration of mastitis, a common infection during breastfeeding. —Noah Lyons, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Oct. 2025

She's done that in the past with her home remedy for mastitis, an often painful inflammation of the breast tissue that is common in breastfeeding. —Anna Halkidis, Parents, 8 Oct. 2025

The program, better known as WIC, provides access to healthy foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding education and referrals for other services to low-income pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, as well as infants and children up to age 5. —Mary Ramsey, Charlotte Observer, 3 Oct. 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