breast-feed

American  

[brest-feed] / ˈbrɛstˌfid /

verb (used with object)

breast-fed, breast-feeding

1. to nurse (a baby) at the breast; suckle.

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verb (used without object)

breast-fed, breast-feeding

1. (of a baby) to nurse.

2. to nurse a baby.

breast-feed British  

verb

1. to feed (a baby) with milk from the breast; suckle

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Other Word Forms

• breast-fed adjective
• breast-feeding noun

Etymology

Origin of breast-feed

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

She plans to breast-feed as long as she can, aiming for a year.

From The Wall Street Journal

“I did breast-feed. I made a ton of milk. I was lucky in that way,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times

“Pregnancy was hard for me but breast-feeding came really easily. The reason that I’m bringing this up is because I feel like there has been so much judgment and stigma in our culture around how people choose to feed their babies. Some women really want to breast-feed and can’t for whatever reason. Some women have double mastectomies. Some men in same sex couples cannot have easy access to breast milk.”

From Los Angeles Times

"The rebel forces in America's latest culture war — the so-called anti-vaxxers — are often described as middle- and upper-class women who breast-feed their children, shop at Whole Foods, endlessly scour the web for vaccine-related conversation, and believe that their thinking supersedes that of their doctors," wrote Alfred Lubrano in the Philadelphia Inquirer, reporting on then-recent studies from government public health agencies.

From Salon

In Herat, one United Nations official recently found a young woman reduced to one meal of tea and bread a day, unable to breast-feed her infant, and a clinic reported a 50% increase in the treatment of malnourished children.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• cradle
• feed
• nourish