--- title: Why I'm Not Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week description: The moralization of infant feeding is not good for mothers or babies canonical: https://time.com/3983936/world-breastfeeding-week-2/ author: Dr. Amy Tuteur article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-04T18:36:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:17.500Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why I'm Not Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week og:description: The moralization of infant feeding is not good for mothers or babies og:url: https://time.com/3983936/world-breastfeeding-week-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8757c12a14ee406/69885dd60a4a22ece59c5759/baby-bottles.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Baby's bottles og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why I'm Not Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week twitter:description: The moralization of infant feeding is not good for mothers or babies twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8757c12a14ee406/69885dd60a4a22ece59c5759/baby-bottles.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why I'm Not Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=76268f85-6aba-493f-b3bc-07c2c832d3bb&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The History of Birth Control [Watch (HLS stream): The History of Birth Control](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4oCau3Jn.m3u8) (3:12)  _Published 2015-01-22. For as long as men and women have been having children, they’ve been trying to figure out how not to. Artifacts dating back to ancient times have shown that contraceptives have been used for thousands of years._ by [Dr. Amy Tuteur](https://time.com/author/dr-amy-tuteur/) ## Dr. Amy Tuteur Aug 4, 2015 6:36 PM UTC  Baby's bottle Baby's bottle Getty Images (1); Illustration by Mia Tramz for TIME by [Dr. Amy Tuteur](https://time.com/author/dr-amy-tuteur/) ## Dr. Amy Tuteur Aug 4, 2015 6:36 PM UTC It’s World Breastfeeding Week, but I’m not celebrating. It’s not because I don’t understand the benefits of breastfeeding; I’m an obstetrician. And it’s not sour grapes; I breastfed four children and I enjoyed it. I’m not celebrating because my email inbox is filled with tales of anguish from women who feel guilty because they tried to breastfeed and were not successful. These women are tormented even when their babies are thriving on formula. Why? Because it has been drilled into them that “breast is best,” and, therefore, they are harming their beloved babies by formula feeding. In industrialized countries in 2015 the “bressure” to breastfeed is extraordinary, despite the fact that the benefits are trivial, a few less colds and diarrheal illnesses across the population in the first year of life. Research on other potential benefits of breastfeeding is weak, conflicted and plagued by confounding variables. Why are we celebrating World Breastfeeding Week in the U.S? It’s not to educate women since everyone knows that breastfeeding has benefits. It can’t be to improve public health since [wide swings in breastfeeding rates in the 20th Century](http://www.skepticalob.com/2015/02/3-graphs-every-formula-feeding-mother-needs-to-see.html) (from initiation rates over 70% down to 20% and back up above 75%) have had no impact on infant mortality rates, life expectancy or IQ. It appears that we are celebrating World Breastfeeding Week in the US to extol mothers who breastfeed and to shame those who don’t. How did we get to this point? The vision of the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Advocacy (WABA), the sponsor of World Breastfeeding Week is “[a world where breastfeeding is the cultural norm](http://waba.org.my/aboutus.htm).” In other words, WABA hopes for a world where breastfeeding is not the personal choice of the woman who owns the breasts in question but a moral imperative. That is a disturbingly familiar formulation. It echoes “a world where marriage of a man and woman is the cultural norm” and “promoting a culture of life,” statements that reflect the desire of a portion of the population to substitute their personal beliefs for the beliefs of the individuals who are affected. Wait! Isn’t breastfeeding natural? Sure, but while it is natural for women to bear children; the idea that all women _should_ have children is a cultural norm, a norm that is harmful for women who don’t want children. Similarly, it is natural for women to breastfeed; but the idea that all women _should_ breastfeed whether they want to or not and whether their babies are thriving or not is a cultural norm, a norm that is harmful for many women and babies. Wait! Isn’t breast milk the perfect food? Not exactly. There are three characteristics that a perfect infant food must have: 1. It should contain all the nutrients and other factors that an infant needs. 1. It must be available in sufficient quantity to promote vigorous growth of the infant. 1. The infant must be able to access it easily. Any food that does not meet all three criteria cannot, under any circumstances, be a perfect food for that child. Breast milk may be the perfect food for some infants, but it is highly imperfect for many others. Up to 5% of mothers cannot produce enough breast milk to fully meet a baby’s needs. No biological process is guaranteed to work perfectly. If established pregnancies have a 20% miscarriage rate, it is hardly surprising that breastfeeding has a failure rate of only a fraction of that amount. When mothers do not produce enough milk to meet a baby’s needs, the baby may stop growing or even lose weight. Many babies are not capable of efficiently extracting milk from the breast. Some babies just can’t do it for anatomical reasons, or because of weak muscle tone, or because they simply never get the hang of it. It is a serious problem that can, in severe cases, lead to dehydration and death. The truth is that breastfeeding is only one of _two_ excellent ways to nourish a baby. Formula is as safe as houses and just as much of a lifesaver. Indeed, many women who choose to formula feed _are_ doing the best for their babies. I’d happily celebrate World Infant Feeding Week. For some babies that would mean breastfeeding, for others formula feeding. But I can’t celebrate anything that lauds some mothers while shaming others. We should not be celebrating the moralization of infant feeding. It’s not good for mothers and it’s certainly not good for babies. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] For as long as men and women have been having children, they've been trying to figure out how not to. Artifacts dating back to ancient times have shown that contraceptives have been used for thousands of years. Unsurprisingly, not every method was all that effective. In ancient China, concubines would drink a cocktail of lead and mercury. Unfortunately, the side effects included sterility, brain damage. Kidney failure and death. Ancient Egyptian women would mix honey, sodium carbonate, and crocodile dung into a thick paste they would insert into themselves before having sex. In Greece in the year 200 a gynecologist named Soranus. Advised women to hold their breathe during intercourse and sneeze afterward. [ SNEEZE ] And in the Middle Ages in Europe, women believed tying weasel testicles to their thighs or around their necks during sex would prevent pregnancy. Huh? But it wasn't all a shot in the dark. Many modern forms of contraception have roots in the ancient past. For example, ancient cave drawings found in France appear to show an early version of the condom and a prototype of the cervical cap has been used since Casanova's days. In his memoirs written in the 18th century he describes using partially squeezed lemon halves to do the trick. [ MUSIC ] The modern history of not having babies begins in the mid 1800's. When vulcanized rubber was patented and condoms could be mass produced. [ MUSIC ] Yet for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries women had a hard time getting their hands on effective contraception. Contraception. Anti- obscenity laws in the US restricted anyone, including doctors, from spreading information about it. But that didn't stop women from trying to prevent pregnancy. Many women would use household products, such as Lysol or Coca- Cola, which they believed would kill sperm. [ MUSIC ] Advertisements for Lysol even endorsed the product as a way for women to protect their married happiness. All of that changed in 1960 when the FDA approved an oral contraceptive pill thanks to the tireless efforts of activist Margaret Sanger. And a team of doctors. Within five years millions of American women had prescriptions for the pill. In the following decades other forms of reliable contraception appeared, including IUD's. Safe and effective birth control still isn't a universal privilege. A 2013 report found that 222 million women from developing countries around the world. Said they wanted to use birth control but didn't have access to it. But in the US, a whopping 99 % of women of child bearing age say that they've used some form of contraception. No crocodile dung required. 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