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December 2003, Vol 93, No. 12 | American Journal of Public Health 2000-2010
© 2003 American Public Health Association

PUBLIC HEALTH THEN AND NOW

Low Breastfeeding Rates and Public Health in the United States

Jacqueline H. Wolf, PhD

The author is with the Department of Social Medicine, Ohio University, Athens.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Jacqueline H. Wolf, PhD, Department of Social Medicine, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701 (e-mail: wolfj1{at}ohio.edu).

The medical community has orchestrated breastfeeding campaigns in response to low breastfeeding rates twice in US history. The first campaigns occurred in the early 20th century after reformers linked diarrhea, which caused the majority of infant deaths, to the use of cows’ milk as an infant food.

Today, given studies showing that numerous diseases and conditions can be prevented or limited in severity by prolonged breastfeeding, a practice shunned by most American mothers, the medical community is again inaugurating efforts to endorse breastfeeding as a preventive health measure.

This article describes infant feeding practices and resulting public health campaigns in the early 20th and 21st centuries and finds lessons in the original campaigns for the promoters of breastfeeding today.




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