Pregnancy and Infants' Illness Archives

Breastfeeding Information

The Last 150 Years of Breastfeeding in the United States

"Breastfeeding rates have fluctuated over time, though no formal statistics are available. In stable eras, breastfeeding was more common, and in periods of "social dazzle" and lowered moral standards, breastfeeding fell out of vogue.18 In the mid-1800s, physicians began concocting breast milk substitutes to replace wet nursing, while some physicians still promoted breastfeeding as the safest and best way to feed babies. By the end of that century, it was noted that infant mortality rates were higher for infants fed a breast milk substitute. In the early 1900s, the industrialization of breast milk substitutes was up and running, and soon after, mass manufacturing of bottles, nipples and pacifiers followed. This started an era when science was equated with progress and the ideology of scientific motherhood was planted. Breastfeeding rates began to plummet.

Development of formula hastened women's exodus to the working world, as now anybody could feed the baby. By 1956, only 21% of mothers initiated breastfeeding, and in 1968 the number lowered to 18%.21 The decline in breastfeeding rates continued until the 1970s. The Ross Laboratories Mothers Survey indicates rising and falling breastfeeding rates since 1971, with recent years experiencing a steady, but slow, increase. The highest initiation (in hospital) rate since the 1970s was 64% occurring in 1998.22 Despite increases in initiation rates, breastfeeding still stops too early: about 29% of breastfeeding mothers in the U.S. continue breastfeeding only until the baby is six months of age...."

And we wonder why the Baby Boomers are so afflicted with chronic health problems. The majority are Bottle Babies!

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