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Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique logoLink to Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique
editorial
. 2006 Sep 1;97(5):412–414. doi: 10.1007/BF03405355

The Problem with Breastfeeding Discourse

Stephanie J Knaak 1,✉
PMCID: PMC6976226  PMID: 17120884

Abstract

This paper reflects on how informational biases have subtly entered into the breastfeeding health discourse and recommends how focus might be redirected. Specifically, contemporary infant feeding health discourse reflects a biased representation of the scientific literature, and fails to provide an appropriate contextualization of risk and benefit. It is important to correct these biases in order to uphold the foundational ethics of expert-guided childcare, and to rightly reposition the discourse as a tool for influence via education, not informational manipulation. Correcting these biases would also ease the discursive pressure and associated emotional burdens mothers currently experience in relation to infant feeding, and would reinforce a needed commitment to the development of appropriate supports to help mothers viably exercise their right to breastfeed.

MeSH terms: Breastfeeding, ethics, health promotion, health education, public health practice

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