The Politics of Breastfeeding by Gabrielle Palmer

Author:Gabrielle Palmer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts are Bad for Business
ISBN: 9781905177745
Publisher: Vearsa
Published: 2011-01-16T16:00:00+00:00

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Eventually better living standards, education and medical care in Europe and North America offset the more lethal effects of artificial feeding. After the Second World War immunisation was developed and became available in the industrialised countries, conquering epidemic childhood diseases such as polio and diphtheria. Measles, still a major killer in Africa, became preventable. Antibiotics came into widespread use and a minor respiratory infection could be treated immediately and the risk of pneumonia avoided. Almost all mothers could read feeding instructions and an expanding army of health workers taught them how to prepare bottles with some hygiene. There were still risks in artificial-feeding, but resulting problems could usually be dealt with by the medical services at hand. The economic costs of this vast medical back-up were ignored until the late 20th century. In 1979, in a middle-class US suburb, medical costs for artificially fed babies were fifteen times that for breastfed babies. In 1991, in an English town, the costs of treating just 150 artificially fed babies hospitalised for diarrhoea was estimated to be £225,000 (US$382,500).17 Hospitalisation for diarrhoea is almost unknown for exclusively breastfed babies.

As industrialised society created a healthier environment, mother and babies could contribute to the prosperity of the baby food manufacturers without having to sacrifice so many infant lives. However, there is an illusory complacency about the effects of artificial-feeding in post-war Europe. At many a conference someone will say confidently, “Most of us here were bottle-fed and we are all healthy!” This was often untrue: the long-term effects of not being breastfed are only beginning to be understood. Blood pressure, cholestrol levels, overweight, diabetes and academic performance may all be linked in part to how we were fed as babies.18

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