Breastfeeding during the first few months of an infant’s life — a key period of early growth and development — has significant health impacts for both mothers and babies. For mothers who are able, breastfeeding reduces the burden of childhood illness, shapes lifelong health and brain development for babies, and decreases the risk of certain types of breast cancers and noncommunicable diseases for mothers. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2022 Report Card, 83.2% of infants born in 2019 started out receiving some breast milk. This rate steadily declined from month to month, with 55.8% of infants receiving any breast milk at 6 months and 35.9% of infants receiving any breast milk at 12 months.¹ Outside of uncontrollable circumstances that some mothers may face that prevent them from breastfeeding, there are various reasons for this decline, including a lack of knowledge and education about breastfeeding and the need for additional support for mothers to continue breastfeeding.

National Breastfeeding Month is celebrated annually in August to raise awareness about breastfeeding and its advantages. For your patients who can and choose to breastfeed, Cigna Healthcare^® offers lactation support and education options through partnerships with Aeroflow Health and Wildflower Health.  

Cigna Healthcare established these partnerships and its own lactation support network to remove barriers to care and provide your patients with options for when and where they receive support. These partnerships ensure your patients have access to International Board Certified Lactation Consultants as well as a wide variety of options for lactation support.

Services offered

Certified Lactation Consultants, with same-day appointments offered depending on availability. Wildflower Health offers in-person and virtual visits with International Board Certified Lactation Consultants, including same-day appointments if needed.

When and how to access services

Lactation support is available to your patients during the third trimester of pregnancy and throughout the postpartum period, including if and when they return to work. This support is covered at 100 percent with no copay or deductibles when your patients use in-network providers. There are no limits on the number of appointments that can be booked, and we recommend that your patients schedule their first appointment during pregnancy. 

Your patients can schedule lactation counseling appointments in several ways.

If a patient needs in-person care and you cannot locate an in-network provider, please call the number on the back of their Cigna Healthcare ID card.

For your patients who need support in a different language, translators are available for more than 200 languages.

Additional resources

Cigna Healthcare offers additional resources to support your patients who are pregnant, including:

• Cigna Healthy Pregnancies, Healthy Babies^® – This comprehensive maternity condition management program aims to educate and support your eligible patients at the very start of their pregnancies to ensure healthy pregnancies and babies. Many employers offer an incentive to patients who enroll in the program.
• Cigna Healthy Pregnancy app – This app promotes clinically appropriate information for your patients during their pregnancy and allows them to easily access to-do lists, fun baby trackers, and helpful education, including over 2,000 articles on topics ranging from preconception to toddlerhood.
• Cigna Healthcare 24-Hour Health Information Line – Your patients can receive confidential clinical support and advice on various pregnancy-related topics 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

^{1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Breastfeeding Report Card.” CDC. 24 February 2025. Retrieved from =https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding-data/breastfeeding-report-card/index.html.}