“Breast Is Best”: Modern Meanings

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Abstract
Things are seldom what they seem, Skim milk masquerades as cream. —W.S. Gilbert (1878): H.M.S. Pinafore.For decades, the slogan "Breast Is Best" has been in use as a pious medical incantation. It has been based on unassailable support for motherhood, and on the ritual regurgitation of a list of textbook advantages and out-of-date comparisons of the major constituents of human and cow's milk, memorized in medical school.Translated into actual behavior by health staff, the result became a cliché with self-defeating overtones: "Breast feeding is best, but not really of actual importance." It was therefore foolish to bother . . .