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Kara Story

H&S 328-02

Book Review

The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts are Bad for Business

Nutritionist and campaigner, Gabrielle Palmer, wrote The Politics of Breastfeeding:

When Breasts are Bad for Business. During the 1970’s she was a breastfeeding counselor and

she helped establish ‘Baby Milk Action’, which is a pressure group in the UK. Palmer has taught,

campaigned, and written about breastfeeding, infant feeding issues, and about the poor ethics

surrounding the baby food industry. Throughout her book, I was constantly intrigued by the

data she found and the analogies she made to help remove the stigma around breastfeeding.

During the 1990’s she co-directed the International Breastfeeding: Practice and Policy Course at

the Institute of Child Health in London. She has ample knowledge and experience in this field

and it was so exciting to read about her teachings and values in this book. The intended

audience of this book is everyone, and she states this in her preface. Throughout the book the

reader learns about how breastfeeding effects everyone and how a multitude of changes need

to be made. She explains how this is a public health issue that concerns everyone and that

remains her audience. Overall, this book was eye-opening in so many ways and was different

from what I was expecting. This book highlights the baby food industry and its unethical

marketing strategies which was something I never truly realized or understood. The more I

read, the more I became invested in the book. I completely agree with the author; this is an

issue that effects everyone.

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Throughout the book, Gabrielle Palmer explains how the baby food industry is creating

stigmas around breastfeeding in order to encourage formula bottle feeding to benefit their

wallets. They use the statement that breastfeeding is difficult and use this as their leverage to

encourage the purchase of formula and bottles. This industry is making billions of dollars a year

on a product that doesn’t even provide all the benefits that free breastmilk can. The female

body is able to produce a miracle product for their children that far surpasses what any formula

can provide. The infant-formula industry in the U.S. alone made 3.9 billion dollars in the 2007.

The book even discusses how the doctors and scientists creating these formulas are receiving

royalties for each sale of these products. With that, it could influence their recommendations

and support for breastfeeding.

The author also discusses the stigma of breastfeeding in public. In recent years we have

begin to see a shift in this, and more positive conversations and outcomes because of women

standing up for their right and positive support for breastfeeding. The author explains how

breastfeeding in public has been frowned upon because it is “inappropriate”. She explains how

our society has glorified commercials sexualizing the female body yet feeding a child is

inappropriate and distasteful. Gabrielle Palmer in a section of the book also discusses how

women’s perception of their own breasts has changed over the years. This ideal of a “perfect

breast” has influenced the way women look at themselves. Plastic surgery for breasts has

become so common and socially accepted, Palmer compares it to getting a haircut. This

stereotyped view of breasts has taken away from the true function and appearance of normal,

unaltered breasts. She reports that women are often even feeling embarrassed about
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breastfeeding. Something that is supposed to be natural and instinctual is being ridiculed and

corrected in the hospitals and by the public causing women to feel insecure about their

abilities. Women can be vulnerable because breastfeeding and motherhood is new and

healthcare providers that are supposed to help are doing more harm than good.

Gabrielle Palmer also addresses the importance of breastmilk, and why it is so amazing.

I thought this was crucial for the book as this supports her overall argument. There is one quote

in her book that really stood out to me. Palmer (2011) states, “If a multinational company

developed a product that was a nutritionally balanced and delicious food, a wonder drug that

both prevented and treated disease, cost almost nothing to produce and could be delivered in

quantities controlled by consumers’ needs, the announcement of this find would send its shares

rocketing to the top of the stock market. The scientists who developed the product would win

prizes and the wealth and influence of everyone involved would increase dramatically. Women

have been producing such a miraculous substance, breastmilk, since the beginning of human

existence, yet they form the least wealthy and the least powerful half of humanity.” This is such

a great example how society has industrialized infant feeding and has made it seem that the

most pure, influential, helpful, and nutritional option is inadequate. The author explains the

benefits of breastmilk and how its protective factors provide immune-support for infants. I was

able to find several studies that supported these claims. One study emphasized how

breastfeeding is able to save lives even in infants who live in clean and industrialized contexts. It

looked at the 2005 National Immunization Survey and researchers calculated that if 90% of
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infants were exclusively breastfed for 6 months then 911 deaths would be prevented (Dieterich

et al., 2013). Why is breastfeeding not being promoted more?

This book was a such a positive in so many ways. The author is able to support her

claims through evidence and she is able word her sentences that bring a whole new perspective

or light to the situation. The author does a great job forming analogies to explain the issues that

way the reader is able to understand more clearly. I appreciated this especially because of my

lack of knowledge about breastfeeding. While her values and beliefs may be considered the

minority in certain populations, she strongly states her opinions and claims in order to address

this public health issue. She is actively seeking and working to change and improve this public

health issue, and you were able to see the author’s passion through her text. However, one

weakness of the book is that at times the author seemed to not fully consider all aspects. The

book sometimes felt one-sided, and I can see how some readers may view this as a negative.

While this book was meant to bring light to a current situation and be persuasive and

informational, some readers may not like the bias that is present. The author’s opinions are

strong and the reader is able to understand them clearly. I personally thought that the book

was refreshing, and I thought the author was straight-forward and I appreciated that.

During our community health course, we discussed the link between public health and

the popular media. This book I felt really highlighted this issue. The infant feeding industry has

marketed and subtly weakened women’s confidence in their ability to breastfeed like I

mentioned earlier. In the course we learned about truthfulness, ethical considerations,

stereotyping, and health messaging. Breastfeeding has been a topic of concern that has been a
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part of all of these. Stereotyping has been so impactful in breastfeeding and the author

discusses this in detail. She talks about how in history women who have breastfed their children

were associated with lower-economic status and how wealthy women would not breastfeed.

This made the stereotype that not breastfeeding your child is better in a way and that

breastfeeding is only for those who can’t afford other infant feeding options. It discusses the

stereotyping of breasts, and how breasts have been sexualized for male desire and not seen for

their true function. The author discusses how the baby food industry has claimed that

breastfeeding is difficult and/or painful and women may not be fit to succeed. Health

messaging for formula and other infant-feeding strategies describe the benefits of it, but often

fail to mention the long-term health benefits and importance of breastmilk for the infant. It

often fails to mention that formula is inferior to breastmilk and that the benefits are less than

true breastmilk. The health messaging implies that formula is nutritionally and beneficially

equal to breastmilk and that it is “easier”.

This book really opened my eyes to this public health concern. There is such a need for

intervention and it has led me to research jobs and careers that are dedicated to improving this

problem our nation is facing. WIC or Women, Infants, and Children can be a great way to work

in this field and directly communicate with mothers about their breastfeeding experiences and

help educate about the importance of breastfeeding. Lactation consultants are also necessary

in helping change this public health problem. They have the knowledge, experience, and ability

to help mothers in their breastfeeding journey and they can use their expertise to bring

awareness about the vital significance of breastfeeding.

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Overall, I really was impressed by this book. I thought the author wrote this book

beautifully and she was able to back up all her claims with evidence. The book brings awareness

to the unethical actions made by the infant-feeding industry, an industry that I never had

negative feelings towards until recently. I never thought of how damaging this industry is

towards the public health of our children and communities. She explains why breastmilk and

breastfeeding is so important and beneficial to the child and mother and I think this is

absolutely necessary to understand no matter who you are. I would highly recommend this

book to anyone because of how informative and eye-opening it is. This book has a lot of

information and context, and it was challenging to touch on all of it in this book review.

However, the common theme of this book is influential and has the potential to make a large

impact in improving this chronic public health issue we are facing.

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References

Dieterich, C. M., Felice, J. P., O'Sullivan, E., & Rasmussen, K. M. (2013). Breastfeeding and health

outcomes for the mother-infant dyad. Pediatric clinics of North America, 60(1), 31–48.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcl.2012.09.010

Palmer, G. (2011). The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts are Bad for Business (3rd ed.).

London: Pinter & Martin.