The Big Letdown

by Kimberly Seals Allers

  “Treating only children Jacqueline H. Wolf, “Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Shrinking Maternal Authority,” in Beyond Health, Beyond Choice: Breastfeeding Constraints and Realities, ed. P. H. Smith, B. Hausman, and M. Labbok, 87–97 (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2012).

  In 1893, Dr. Rotch wrote T. M. Rotch, “The General Principles Underlying All Good Methods of Infant-Feeding,” Medical News: A Weekly Medical Journal 63 (1893): 600–02.

  In 1923 Mead Johnson, maker of Enfamil S. Johnson, “A Glimpse of Mead Johnson,” in Mothers and Medicine: A Social History of Infant Feeding, 1890–1950, ed. R. D. Apple (Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin, 1987).

  The authors of a 1991 Scandinavian study G. Nylander, R. Lindemann, E. Helsing, and E. Bendvold, “Unsupplemented Breastfeeding in the Maternity Ward Positive Long-Term Effects,” Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica 70, no. 3 (1991): 205–09.

  The 1914 article sparked a call M. Tracy and C. Leupp, “Painless Childbirth,” McClure’s Magazine, vol. xlii, no. 2 (June 1914): 37–52. Accessed on https://books.google.com. The 1914 New York Medical Journal C. E. Sajous and C. L. Wheeler, “New York Medical Journal: A Weekly Review of Medicine,” 100(C) (1914).

  In 1971, the year I G. E. Hendershot, “Trends in Breastfeeding,” Vital and Health Statistics of the National Center for Health Statistics 59, 1–7 (1980).

  in 2015 it was 32.7 percent A. Almendrala, “U.S. C-section Rate Is Double What WHO Recommends,” Huffpost Parents, last modified April 16, 2015; see also J. A. Martin, B. E. Hamilton, and M. J. K. Osterman, “Births in the United States (2013),” NCHS Data Brief, 175, 2014, 1–8.

  2. Milk Money: The Big Business of Bodies, Breasts, and Babies

  “If the [cow’s] milk cannot be obtained,” J. B. Lyman and L. E. Lyman, How to Live, or, the Philosophy of Housekeeping: A Scientific and Practical Manual (Philadelphia: W. H. Thompson, 1869).

  Researchers believe that the taste preferences G. K. Beauchamp and Julie A. Mennella, “Early Flavor Learning and Its Impact on Later Feeding Behavior,” Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition 48 (2009): S25–S30; L. L. Birch, and Jennifer O. Fisher, “Development of Eating Behaviors among Children and Adolescents,” Pediatrics 101 (supp. 2) (1998): 539–49.

  a 1995 study J. W. White and M. Wolraich, “Effect of Sugar on Behavior and Mental Performance,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 62, no. 1 (1995): 242S–247S.

  An infant diet that is high in sugar C. Sheikh and P. R. Erickson, “Evaluation of Plaque pH Changes Following Oral Rinse with Eight Infant Formulas,” Pediatric Dentistry 18 (1996): 200–204.

  The American Academy of Pediatrics R. Murray and J. J. S. Bhatia, “Snacks, Sweetened Beverages, Added Sugars, and Schools,” Pediatrics 135, no. 3 (2015).

  According to a 2000 report by the American Diabetes Association American Diabetes Association, “Type 2 Diabetes in Children and Adolescents,” Diabetes Care 23, no. 3 (2000): 381–89.

  Dr. Francine Ratner Kaufman F. R. Kaufman, “Type 2 Diabetes in Children and Young Adults: A ‘New Epidemic,’” Clinical Diabetes 20, no. 4 (2002): 217–18.

  earning $19.4 million in total compensation http://www.equilar.com/reports/37-2-associated-press-pay-study-2016.html.

  such as The Vanguard Group https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ABT/holders?ltr=1.

  Warren Buffett, owns a 25 percent stake (valued at over $22 billion in March 2016) in Kraft Heinz http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/022716/warren-buffetts-portfolio-3-reasons-kraft-heinz-co.asp.

  As far back as the 1940s “Commercial of the Week,” Jet, Dec. 4, 1952, 17.

  By the mid-1970s, over 75 percent of American babies S. J. Fomon, “Infant Feeding in the 20th Century: Formula and Beikost,” Journal of Nutrition 131, no. 2 (2001): 409S–420S.

  A 1982 report by the Action for Corporate Accountability “Organization Records,” Action for Corporate Accountability: An Inventory of its Records at the Minnesota Historical Society MNHS.org; see also http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00374.xml.

  One proposal from Ross Laboratories S. Solomon, “The Controversy Over Infant Formula,” New York Times, Dec. 6, 1981.

  In 2013 the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine “Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Urges AAP to End Formula Marketing Partnership,” https://bfmed.wordpress.com/2013/12/27/academy-of-breastfeeding-medicine-urges-aap-to-end-formula-marketing-partnership/, last modified December 27, 2013.

  In the summer of 2012, the AAP C. Lewis, “Formula Markets Put Pediatric Academy in the Bag,” womensenews.org; see also http://womensenews.org/2013/12/formula-marketers-put-pediatric-academy-in-the-bag/.

  This designation was changed M. Meadows, “A Century of Ensuring Safe Foods and Cosmetics,” fda.gov, last modified January-February 2006.

  Several meetings of the Food Advisory Committee “FDA Takes Final Step on Infant Formula Protections,” fda.gov, last modified June 9, 2014.

  Since 2000 the price of regular infant formula has increased 100 percent http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/892137/efan02001f_002.pdf.

  Dairy industry subsidies totaled $5.6 billion https://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?fips=00000&progcode=dairy.

  the guidance was still accepted as is http://www.idfa.org/news-views/headline-news/article/2016/06/02/who-proposal-passes-with-some-positive-provisions-for-dairy.

  United States incurs 13 billion M. Bartick and A. Reinhold, “The Burden of Suboptimal Breastfeeding in the United States: A Pediatric Cost Analysis,” Pediatries 125, no. 5 (2010).

  3. Scientific Breakthroughs or Breakdowns?

  Doubt is our product Smoking and Health Proposal, 1969, BN:680561778, Legacy Tobacco Documents Library

  by the age of three D. W. Teele, J. O. Klein, and B. Rosner, “Epidemiology of Otitis Media During the First Seven Years of Life in Children in Greater Boston: A Prospective, Cohort Study,” Journal of Infectious Diseases 160(1) (1989): 83–94. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/infdis/160.1.83.

  In 2012 the American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledged A. I. Eidelman and R. J. Schanler, “Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk: Section on Breastfeeding,” Pediatrics 129, no. 3 (2012).

  A 2010 analysis shows R. Li, S. B. Fein, and L. M. Grummer-Strawn, “Do Infants Fed from Bottles Lack Self-Regulation of Milk Intake Compared with Directly Breastfed Infants?” Pediatrics 125, no. 6 (2010): 1386–93.

  Research has confirmed T. Saarela, J. Kokkonen, and M. Koivisto, “Macronutrient and Energy Contents of Human Milk Fractions During the First Six Months of Lactation,” Acta Paediatrica (Oslo, Norway: 1992) 94, no. 9 (2005): 1176–81; O. Ballard and A. L. Morrow, “Human Milk Composition: Nutrients and Bioactive Factors,” Pediatric Clinics of North America 60, no. 1 (2013): 49–74.

  made big headlines N. Bakalar, “Is Breastfeeding Really Better?” New York Times, March 4, 2014, well.blogs.nytimes.com.

  A follow-up J. Grose, “New Study Confirms It: Breast-feeding Benefits Have Been Drastically Overstated,” Slate.com, last modified February 27, 2014.

  Colen’s study C. G. Colen and D. M. Ramey, “Is Breast Truly Best? Estimating the Effect of Breastfeeding on Long-Term Child Wellbeing in the United States Using Sibling Comparisons,” Social Science and Medicine 109 (2014): 55–65.

  In January 2013 The New England Journal of Medicine K. Casazza, K. R. Fontaine, A. Astrup, L. L. Birch, A. W. Brown, M. M. Bohan Brown, N. Durant, et al., “Myths, Presumptions, and Facts about Obesity,” New England Journal of Medicine 368, no. 5 (2013): 446–54.

  on peer review fraud published in NEJM in December 2015 http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1512330#t=article.

  There are several studies M. W. Gillman and C. S. Mantzoros, “Commentary: Breast-Feeding, Adipokines, and Childhood Obesity,” Epidemiology 18, no. 6 (2007): 730–32; I. M. Paul, C. J. Bartok, D. S. Downs, C. A. Stifter, A. K. Ventura, L. L. Birch, “Opportunities for the Primary Prevention of Obesity During Infancy,” Advances in Pediatrics 56, no. 1 (2009): 107–33.

  One study comparing the
milk of humans L. Hambraeus, “Proprietary Milk versus Human Breast Milk in Infant Feeding: A Critical Appraisal from the Nutritional Point of View,” Pediatric Clinics of North America 24, no. 1 (1977): 17; O. T. Oftedal and S. J. Iverson, “Comparative Analysis of Nonhuman Milks: Phylogenetic Variation in the Gross Composition of Milks,” in R. G. Jensen, ed. Handbook of Milk Composition (San Diego: Academic Press, 1995): 749–89.

  recognize feelings of satiety A. Brown and M. Lee, “Breastfeeding During the First Year Promotes Satiety Responsiveness in Children Aged 18–24 Months,” Pediatric Obesity 7, no. 5 (2012): 382–90.

  In one study published in the journal Pediatrics J. A. Mennella, C. P. Jagnow, G. K. Beauchamp, “Prenatal and Postnatal Flavor Learning by Human Infants,” Pediatrics 107, no. 6 (2001): E88.

  An extensive review of synthetic M. Hamosh, “Introduction: Should Infant Formulas Be Supplemented with Bioactive Components and Conditionally Essential Nutrients Present in Human Milk?” Journal of Nutrition 127, no. 5 (1997): 971S–974S.

  The algae DHA is not D. J. Raiten, J. M. Talbot, and J. H. Waters, eds., “Executive Summary for the Report: Assessment of Nutrient Requirements for Infant Formulas,” Journal of Nutrition 128 (11S) (1998).

  convened by the Institute of Medicine Committee on the Evaluation of the Addition of Ingredients New to Infant Formula, “Infant Formula: Evaluating the Safety of New Ingredients” (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2004); see also C. Vallaeys, “Replacing mother—Imitating Human Breast Milk in the Laboratory” (Cornucopia Institutes, January 2008).

  International Baby Food Action Y. J. Kean and A. Allain, “Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules 2004: Evidence of Violation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes and Subsequent Resolutions” (International Baby Food Action Network, 2004).

  Mead Johnson based its IQ claims E. E. Birch, S. Garfield, Y. Castañeda, D. Hughbanks-Wheaton, R. Uauy, and D. Hoffman, “Visual Acuity and Cognitive Outcomes at 4 Years of Age in a Double-Blind, Randomized Trial of Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid-Supplemented Infant Formula,” Early Human Development 83, no. 5 (2007): 279–84.

  as part of their Organic Integrity Project Cornucopia Institute, “Questions and Answers about DHA/ARA and Infant Formula,” cornucopia.org, http://cornucopia.org/DHA/DHA_QuestionsAnswers.pdf.

  4. The Things Unseen: Battling Structural Barriers

  According to the Park Slope Parents 2015 Nanny Compensation Survey http://cdn.parkslopeparents.com/images/2015NannySurveyResults_FINAL.pdf.

  Compare that to Sweden’s Sweden and Finland: International Labour Office Geneva, “Maternity at Work: A Review of National Legislation, 2nd ed.” (Geneva: International Labour Organization, 2012).

  In 2012 nearly one quarter “Family and medical leave in 2012: Detailed results appendix,” (September 6, 2012); see also, http://www.dol.gov/asp/evaluation/fmla/FMLA-Detailed-Results-Appendix.pdf.

  correlation between death rates and paid leave C. J. Ruhm, “Parental Leave and Child Health,” Journal of Health Economics 19, no. 6 (2000): 931–60.

  decline in depressive symptoms M. Rossin-Slater, C. J. Ruhm, and J. Waldfogel, “The Effects of California’s Paid Family Leave Program on Mothers’ Leave-Taking and Subsequent Labor Market Outcomes,” NBER Working Paper 1771 (December 2011); P. Chatterji and S. Markowitz, “Does the Length of Maternity Leave Affect Maternal Health?” NBER Working Paper 10206 (January 2004); P. Chatterji and S. Markowitz, “Family Leave after Childbirth and the Mental Health of New Mothers,” Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics 15 (2012): 61–76.

  access to any form of paid family leave U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2014” (U.S. Department of Labor, September 2014).

  The highest-paid workers U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2014” (U.S. Department of Labor, September 2014).

  shows the scope of the legal letdown women face http://www.leagle.com/decision/In%20FDCO%2020160401B39/ALLEN-BROWN%20v.%20DISTRICT%20OF%20COLUMBIA.

  Women now make up more U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, DataFerrett, Monthly Microdata (December 2014); see also Department for Professional Employees, “Women in the Professional Workforce,” dpeaflcio.org, last modified February 2015.

  Over the past forty years R. M. Spalter-Roth and H. I. Harmann, “Increasing Working Mothers’ Earnings: Executive Summary,” U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau (November 1991).

  number of part-time jobs R. Valletta and L. Bengali, “What’s Behind the Increase in Part-Time Work?” Economic Research (August 26, 2013).

  a study of working mothers by the Pew Research Center K. Parker, “Women, Work, and Motherhood: A Sampler of Recent Pew Research Survey Findings,” pewsocialtrends.org, last modified April 13, 2012, http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/04/13/women-work-and-motherhood/.

  two economic researchers at Washington University J. Compton and R. A. Pollak, “Proximity and Coresidence of Adult Children and Their Parents: Description and Correlates,” University of Michigan Retirement Research Center, Working Paper 2009–215 (2009).

  In 2015, Abbott Labs spent http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000000383&year=2015.

  “On the one hand, wet nursing Wilma A. Dunaway, The African-American Family in Slavery and Emancipation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).

  historian Michele Mock M. Mock, “Spitting Out the Seed: Ownership of Mother, Child, Breasts, Milk, and Voice in Toni Morrison’s Beloved,” College Literature 23, no. 3 (1996): 117–26.

  5. Nipple-omics and the Value of Motherhood

  Women are paid 23 percent less C. DeNavas-Walt and B. D. Proctor, “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2014: Current Population Reports, P60-252” (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2015).

  New York magazine featured J. Senior, “All Joy and No Fun: Why Parents Hate Parenting,” nymag.com, last modified July 4, 2010.

  U.S. women still work more hours R. Blundell, A. Bozio, and G. Laroque, “Extensive and Intensive Margins of Labour Supply: Work and Working Hours in the US, the UK and France,” Fiscal Studies 34, no. 1 (2013): 1–29.

  As George D. Sussman writes George D. Sussman, Selling Mothers’ Milk: The Wet-Nursing Business in France, 1715–1914 (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1982).

  Zelizer famously surmised V. A. Zelizer, Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1985).

  6. The Feminist Fallacy

  easier to control cows E. F. Brush, “How to Produce Milk for Infant Feeding,” read at Fifty-Fifth Annual Session of American Medical Association, Journal of the American Medical Association, volume 43 (1904): 1385. the plaintiff argued that https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/meetings/2-15-12/williams.cfm#fn4.

  “failure to present any comparison evidence http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/20/734/522956/.

  Constructing breastfeeding as a choice M. Eichner, “Parenting and the Workplace: The Construction of Parenting Protections in United States Law,” International Breastfeeding Journal 3:14 (2008), https://internationalbreastfeedingjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1746-4358-3-14.

  7. The Problem of No Problem: The Breastfeeding Movement

  New York Times calling her book a “riveting exposé of breastfeeding http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/books/review/lactivism-by-courtney-jung.html.

  The review on Slate.com http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2015/12/the_breast_feeding_extremists_who_put_lactivism_ahead_of_protecting_babies.html.

  8. Boob Control: The Sexualization of Breastfeeding

  A legal battle ensued Federal Communications Commission, “FCC Proposes Statutory Maximum Fine of $550,000 against Viacom-Owned CBS Affiliates for Apparent Violation of Indecency Rules during Broadcast of Super Bowl Halftime Show,”
(September 22, 2004).

  UK magazine called Mother & Baby A. Jamieson, “Breastfeeding Is ‘Creepy’ Says Parenting Magazine,” telegraph.co.uk, last modified June 27, 2010.

  “ayatollahs of breast-feeding” Élisabeth Badinter, The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2012).

  importance of the bonding benefits N. M. Else-Quest, J. S. Hyde, and R. Clark, “Breastfeeding, Bonding, and the Mother-Infant Relationship,” Merrill-Palmer Quarterly (2003): 495–517; J. R. Britton, H. L. Britton, and V. Gronwaldt, “Breastfeeding, Sensitivity, and Attachment,” Pediatrics 118, no. 5 (2006): e1436–e1443.

  “Breasts are the only organ F. Williams, Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History (New York: Norton, 2012).

  Historical records document that black women W. A. Dunaway, The African-American Family in Slavery and Emancipation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003); R. Hamad, “A Tale of Two Breastfeeding Pictures,” dailylife.com.au, last modified Nov. 7, 2014; A. E. B. Crawford, Hope in the Holler: A Womanist Theology (London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002).

  For centuries, women went topless S. S. Hughes and B. Hughes, Women in World History, vol. 1, Readings from Prehistory to 1500 (New York: Routledge, 2015); J. Schreindl, “Why ‘Free the Nipple Is Key to Women’s Equality,” rolereboot.org, last modified May 15, 2015.

  Oxytocin’s documented effect L. Garfield, C. Giurgescu, C. S. Carter, D. Holditch-Davis, B. L. McFarlin, D. Schwertz, J. S. Seng, and R. White-Traut, “Depressive Symptoms in the Second Trimester Relate to Low Oxytocin Levels in African-American Women: A Pilot Study,” Archives of Women’s Mental Health 18, no. 1 (2015): 123–29; M. Mokkonen and B. J. Crespi, “Genomic Conflicts and Sexual Antagonism in Human Health: Insights from Oxytocin and Testosterone,” Evolutionary Applications 8, no. 4 (2015): 307–25.

  A 1992 member magazine J. M. Riordan and E. T. Rapp, “Pleasure and Purpose the Sensuousness of Breastfeeding.” Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing 9, no. 2 (1980): 109–12.