A Hidden Epidemic: Complications of Insufficient Feeding in Healthy Term Breastfed Newborns

Dr. Christie del Castillo-Hegyi is a Board-Certified Emergency Physician, Cofounder of the Fed Is Beat Foundation, an organization dedicated to preventing neonatal brain injury and long-term disabilities from complications of inadequate feeding while exclusively breastfeeding. Dr. del Castillo-Hegyi studied the effects of glucose on neonatal brain injury at Brown University where she attended as an undergraduate. She subsequently studied HIV Immunology at the National Institutes of Health, where she co-developed and co-patented a novel therapeutic agent against HIV. She then attended medical school at the University of California, San Francisco and trained in Emergency Medicine at the University of New Mexico. She studies the scientific literature on brain injury from jaundice, dehydration, hypernatremia, and hypoglycemia related to failed and delayed breast milk production and insufficient infant feeding. Her organization provides families and health professionals with inclusive, evidence-based, judgment-free support to practice safe infant feeding with human milk, formula, or a combination of both. She is a Member of the Global Development Disability Research Collaborators, which has published data on global rates of neurological and developmental disabilities in children. She leads a group of parents, physicians, nurses, and lactation consultants who support the Foundation’s work to provide infant feeding education and patient safety recommendations through social media (with almost a million followers) and the Foundation’s website at fedisbest.org. She has published on and spoken nationally and internationally on the subject of brain injury from inadequate feeding including at the NIH U.S. Task Force for Pregnant and Lactating Women and the USDA Dietary Guidelines Committee meeting and continues to advocate for reforms in hospital policies to ensure safe and adequate infant feeding. She has also coauthored the book, “Fed Is Best: The Unintended Harms of the ‘Breast Is Best’ Message and How to Find the Right Approach for You and Your Baby.”