How the western world almost stopped breastfeeding
It is hard to think of any other natural human behaviour which has come as close to extinction as breastfeeding did in the 20th century.
Although commercial infant foods were developed in the late 1800s and were being promoted prior to the first world war, it was after the second global conflict when their use became so widespread that it led to a recognised decline in breastfeeding.
Boom!
The post-war baby boom of 1945-1963 saw a steady decrease in breastfeeding. But it was when those early Baby-Boomers began having their own children in the 60s and 70s that numbers plummeted to the lowest level in human history.
In 1971, just twenty-one percent of babies in the US were breastfed at birth. Similar numbers were seen in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand as well as other westernised countries.
The increase in formula feeding led to a ripple effect still impacting families today and its not what you might expect.
The art of breastfeeding was almost extinguished. Even as breastfeeding advocacy and support turned a corner in the 1970s and 80s, a generation of mothers and midwives had lost the knowledge and experience of how breastfeeding and lactation work. The wisdom and skills handed down through the ages, from mother to daughter, midwife to apprentice, experienced nurse to the novice, had been interrupted. From understanding the early days when a baby and breast gently transition from womb to world to the very basics of achieving a painless and effective joining of mouth and nipple: it was almost lost completely. Only through the passionate efforts of the few was breastfeeding rescued from the brink.
It sounds like an exaggeration but the data supports the reality. Having first influenced the so-called first world and effectively exhausted the potential market there, the formula industry simply turned to the developing world and started over. Vulnerable people in Africa, India, South America and Asia were directly targeted with marketing to replicate the model proven so effective:
Engage the influential medical community and get them to market the products to the community for you.
Following the wave of formula feeding in the westernised world, other parts of the global community were soon leaving behind their breastfeeding wisdom and turning to formula. Not because breastfeeding had rapidly declined in viability but because infant formula was marketed as a better option. Once again, the loss of skills and knowledge had a flow-on effect which is still evident today.
However far we fell down this rabbit hole, it was thankfully not beyond a point of retrieval. Where efforts to limit marketing of breastmilk substitutes were successful and breastfeeding reeducation practices were put in place for professionals and parents, breastfeeding rates reversed the downward trend.
Breastfeeding should not be vulnerable to marketing of infant formula anywhere. Yet, while white middle-class western women are more likely to establish and maintain breastfeeding, socio-economic factors influence the choices and circumstances of vulnerable families globally. We need to work together as a world-wide community to protect, promote and support breastfeeding for everyone.
