The Breast vs. Bottle Battle:  Infant Feeding Mis/Information

Melissa Rothfus

doi:10.5931/djim.v8i1.221

Authors

Melissa Rothfus Dalhousie University, School of Information Management

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5931/djim.v8i1.221

Keywords:

Information in Society, breastfeeding, infant feeding,

Abstract

That “breast is best” is a truism even infant formula manufacturers do not openly dispute, and the choice to breastfeed has increasingly become part of the measure of a good mother in modern Canadian society. Yet the information in support of breastfeeding’s purported benefits is problematic, even as public discourse vilifies the alternative. This paper examines the issues surrounding infant feeding choices and the way in which information is utilized and manipulated by both sides of the emotionally charged breast vs. bottle debate. While there are good reasons to support breastfeeding practices, the current state of our knowledge of its benefits does not justify the often strident tone and harsh judgment adopted by breastfeeding advocates.

Author Biography

Melissa Rothfus, Dalhousie University, School of Information Management

Melissa Rothfus is a current student in Dalhousie’s MLIS program with a long-standing interest in issues related to the establishment and communication of social norms and accepted behaviors. The research involved in this paper for INFO 5505 Information and Society provided an exciting opportunity to return to several issues that interested her as an a Women’s Studies minor as an undergraduate at Macalester College.

References

References Andrew, N. & Harvey, K.N. (2011). Infant feeding choices: Experience, self-identity and lifestyle. Maternal and Child Nutrition, 7(1), 48-60. doi:10.1111/j.1740-8709.2009.00222.x/pdf Artis, J. (2009). Breastfeed at your own risk. Contexts, 8(4), 28-34. doi:doi:10.1525/ctx.2009.8.4.28 Blum, L. (1999). At the breast: Ideologies of breastfeeding and motherhood in the contemporary United States. Boston: Beacon Press. Breastfeeding Battles: Why has mother's milk become so controversial? (1996). Today's Parent, 12(9), 50. Retrieved from http://www.todaysparent.com Canada's baby care book: A complete guide from birth to 12-months old. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2011, from amazon: http://www.amazon.ca/Canadas-Baby-Care-Book-12-Months/dp/077880156X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323353478&sr=8-1 Douglas, A. (2011, January 31). Breastfeeding groups petition Health Canada. Toronto Star. Retrieved from Lexisnexis database. Friedman, M. (2009). For whom is breast best? Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering, 11(1), 26-35. Retrieved from http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/jarm/article/viewFile/22506/20986 Health Canada. (2008, January 7). Exclusive Breastfeeding Duration - 2004 Health Canada Recommendation. (Cat. No.: H44-73/2004E-HTML). Retrieved from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/infant-nourisson/excl_bf_dur-dur_am_excl-eng.php Heinig, M. (2009). Are there risks to using risk-based messages to promote breastfeeding? Journal of Human Lactation, 25(1), 7-8. doi:10.1177/0890334408330192 Hoffman, J. (2000). Lacto-intolerance: In our zeal to promote breast feeding, have we turned our backs on the women who don't? Today's Parent, 17(11), 54. Retrieved from http://www.todaysparent.com Hoffman, J. (2006). Nursing confidential. Today's Parent, 23(10), 95-96,98,100,102. Retrieved from http://www.todaysparent.com INFACT Canada Fact Sheets. (n.d.). Retrieved from INFACT Canada: http://infactcanada.ca/FactSheets.htm Knaak, S. (2010, August). Contextualising risk, constructing choice: Breastfeeding and good mothering in risk society. Health, Risk & Society, 12(4), 345-355. doi:10.1080/13698571003789666 Kukla, R. (2006, February). Ethics and ideology in breastfeeding advocacy campaigns. Hypatia, 21(1), 157-180. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.2006.tb00970.x Maxted, A. (2011, May 16). Breastfeeding: Protect us from the Breastapo. Vancouver Sun. Retrieved from Factiva database. Nathoo, T. & Ostry, A.S. (2009). The one best way? Breastfeeding history, politics, and policy in Canada. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press. Nestlé Good Start Probiotic. (2008). Retrieved from Nesté-Baby.ca: http://www.nestle-baby.ca/en/products/formula/starter/goodstart_probiotic.htm Nova Scota Health Promotion and Protection. (2009). Breastfeeding basics. Halifax:  Communications Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia Health Promotion and Protection. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.first6weeks.ca/ Rashley, L. H. (2005). "Work it out with your wife": Gendered expectations and parenting rhetoric online. NWSA Journal, 17(1), 58-92. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.library.dal.ca/journals/nwsa_journal/v017/17.1rashley.html Rumbelow, H. (2010). Breast is best? Exposing the myths of breastfedding. Significance (7),  168-170. doi:10.1111/j.1740-9713.2010.00453.x Statistics Canada. (2011, April 29). Breastfeeding, 2009. (Catalog No. 82-625-X) Retrieved from  http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-625-x/2010002/article/11269-eng.htm Stearns, C. (2009, Fall/Winter). The work of breastfeeding. Women's Studies Quarterly, 37(3/4), 63-80. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27740575 Tiryakian, E. C. (2009, June). Letters to the Editor. 303(5), 12-16. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com Van de Geyn, L. (2010, August). What nobody tellyou. Today's Parent, 27(8), 60-62, 64, 66. Retrieved from http://www.todaysparent.com Wall, G. (2001, August). Moral constructions of motherhood in breastfeeding discourse. Gender and Society, 15(4), 592-610. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3081924 Wallace, L. &. (2007). Infant feeding in the modern world: Medicalization and the maternal body. Sociological Spectrum, 27(4), 405-438. doi:10.1080/02732170701335046 Weeks, C. (2010, July 11). Why aren't more women breastfeeding? The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com Wente, M. (2011, May 21). The tyranny of mother's milk; Women were made to feel that failing to nurse their babies was tantamount to child abuse. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com When feeding baby, breast is best. (2010, January 10). Montreal Gazette. Retrieved from the Factiva database. Wolf, J. (2011). Is breast best? Taking on the breastfeeding experts and he new high stakes of motherhood. New York: New York University Press. Yadlon, S. (1997). Skinny woman and good mothers: The rhetoric of risk, control, and culpability in the knowledge about breast cancer. Feminist Studies, 23(3), 645-677. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3178391   .

The Breast vs. Bottle Battle: Infant Feeding Mis/Information

Authors

DOI:

Keywords:

Abstract

Author Biography

Melissa Rothfus, Dalhousie University, School of Information Management

References

Downloads

Published

Issue

Section

License