title: Low breastfeeding rates and public health in the United States.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine, Ohio University, Athens 45701, USA. wolfj1@ohio.edu
authors.forename: Jacqueline H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wolf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007229:Infant Welfare / Q000266:history*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000276:immunology; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000266:history*; D040241:Social Marketing; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology