Objectives:
Breastfeeding, although natural and instinctive, is an act that has to be learnt. During the postnatal period a breastfeeding woman often needs to receive professional knowledge and support from medical staff. Medical students are the future professionals whose expertise and breastfeeding attitudes may significantly affect a mother’s choice to breastfeed or not.

Material and methods:
375 students of medicine and related degree courses (nutrition studies, midwifery, nursing, public health studies) took part in the study. They were asked to fill-out a questionnaire developed for the purpose of this research. The questionnaire consisted of multiple choice questions assessing knowledge of breastfeeding and attitudes towards public breastfeeding. These were analysed using Cramér’s V and Phi. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS.

Results:
The results showed that the midwifery, nursing and medical students had the biggest breastfeeding knowledge. The respondents expressed their attitudes towards breastfeeding, in particular towards public breastfeeding, breastfeeding duration, formula advertising, and mothers’ rights to breastfeed at the workplace. The majority of students were supportive of public breastfeeding (over 70%). Positive emotions related to breastfeeding were expressed mainly by midwifery students.The vast majority of respondents agreed that breastfeeding is the optimal nutrition for newborns and infants.

Conclusions:
The overall breastfeeding knowledge of medical and related degrees appears to be satisfactory, with the midwifery students scoring the highest. The majority of the respondents acknowledged the difference between breastfeeding and formula. Medical students accepted public breastfeeding, with the highest acceptance scores achieved by midwifery, nursing, and public health students.