Lactivism: How Feminists and Fundamentalists, Hippies and Yuppies, and Physicians and Politicians Made Breastfeeding Big Business and Bad Policy

This is an excellent and groundbreaking book-- THANK YOU Courtney Jung! The author is brave to take on this subject, and it is much appreciated by new mothers like myself who have had to deal with irrational, incompetent, and dishonest nurses and lactation consultants. Jung exposes lactivists in the way that many ostracized scientists are now exposing the "global warming" (oh I mean "climate change") alarmists. It's actually pretty amazing to notice the parallels between these two agendas, and how both were ramped up during the ultra-liberal Obama Administration. Jung discusses the origins of the breastfeeding lies being shoved at new mothers by medical professionals these days, as well as the reason for the demonization of formula (specifically: decades ago, formula companies sold formula in developing countries where mothers diluted it and used contaminated water). It was appalling to read about doctors/scientists cherry picking and skewing data to make bold claims about the supposedly universal benefits of breast milk, and the sources of funding for breastfeeding/lactation research.My daughter was born a month early, and I was pressured to exclusively breastfeed from the start. As everyone knows, it takes an average of 3-5 days for a mother's milk to come in. Full term infants have fat reserves that allow them to get through those first few days (with weight loss), while preemies don't. Preemies NEED formula at least as a supplement. But you would never have guessed that from the stupid nurses and LCs who treated me with absolute hostility at the mere suggestion of it-- and implied that I was personally at fault for not producing enough milk for my preemie baby immediately. Not knowing who to believe, I allowed LCs to violate my personal space and use a syringe to collect droplets of milk for the first week while I was attached to a loud pumping machine multiple times a day. It was as if my only worth as a mother was to function as a milk machine. My daughter was ultimately hospitalized for 'failure to thrive' because of this nonsense, and the result of a 5 day hospital stay was to simply ADD FORMULA POWDER to the expressed milk. At that point, she started gaining weight. But it wasn't until I switched entirely to formula that my daughter began to THRIVE. She is now doing GREAT-- healthy, growing so fast, and happy. I should have done it earlier, and if I had discovered Jung's book during my pregnancy I know I would have. On a logical level, it's not just the delay in milk production for new mothers to be concerned about-- if your baby is not doing well, it is probably because you are not producing enough milk (even though lactivists claim that everyone can do so) or he/she is in a growth spurt and there is a lag time in your increased milk production. No baby should ever go hungry. It's disgusting to me that certain medical professionals put breast milk on a platform as if it's some magical elixer without any scientific basis. It's hilarious to me that certain people out there treat breast milk as magical (it's almost a new religion!), akin to the father in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" spraying Windex on all ailments to heal them. It's unbelievable to read about new mothers squirting breast milk up their noses and their baby's noses to 'cure' sinus problems, rubbing breast milk on wounds, etc.-- in a few decades, I'm sure that everyone will look back on this anti-scientific 'fad' and shake their heads in disbelief.

I think this is an important and informative book! I like that the author breastfed her babies for two years. I felt like this gave her credibility, as she clearly isn't anti-breastfeeding but instead is just trying to take a reasonable and fact-based approach to the benefits of breastfeeding.There were three things I really liked about the book. One, I appreciate the chapter on what the medical research says about the benefits of breastfeeding. This gave me the information I need to decide whether to continue nursing my baby based on fact, not propaganda. Second, I appreciate the way this book helped me re-frame how I think about breastfeeding as a choice based on what is best for my baby, my other family members and myself, not a moral obligation. Finally, I appreciate that this book helped me understand that although breastfeeding is framed as a public health issue, the burden for working women is placed completely on us. Trying to take care of your job, your mental and physical well-being and the rest of your family while also pumping at work just might not be realistic.This book has helped me think through how long I want to breastfeed my second baby. But I also wish this book had been published before my first baby was born! With my first baby nursing did not work out. If I had read this book it would have been much easier to make my peace with that.

This is a great book, along the lines of Expecting Better by Emily Oster and similar to Oster's "Everyone Calm Down about Breastfeeding" but with a lot more politics in the mix. I wish I had read this before my son was born. If I had, I would have supplemented with formula sooner instead of leaving him hungry and dropping down the weight percentiles from 50% to 3% for the first eight weeks of his life. :(My only reservation is that Jung sometimes goes a bit out on a limb to try to make a point, ultimately weakening her argument by building it on a shaky foundation. For example:* Jung consistently uses the wrong mortality rates in her argument formula in areas where drinking water may not be safe. She compares the % chance of infection (which can be mitigated through breastfeeding) to the % chance of overall infant mortality. The proper comparison is to the % chance of infant mortality among formula-fed babies or if possible even to % chance of infant mortality specifically due to formula feeding. I'm not sure how her editors let this through - it is just sloppy thinking.* Jung takes a random swipe at vegans and vegetarians who nurse, arguing that their milk inherently has nutritional deficiencies.

I have done my research outside of this book as well as reading this book. I have had a breast reduction and thought about attempting to breastfeed. I read this book while I was 24 weeks pregnant. After reviewing her research along with other research I had read on my own, I really feel that this book was very helpful. This book is not about not breastfeeding. It is about a woman's right to chose if she wants to or not. All of those that are giving this book a bad review are not reading the parts about where the author did and would again breastfeed but that it should be a mother's choice and no stigma should be placed on the mother for her decision.

I really enjoyed this book and found it very interesting from the perspective of a first time mum who ultimately wasn't able to breastfeed. I feel like the opinions given are balanced and, interestingly, this woman breastfed herself. Basically, the bottom line is that breastfeeding has been found to be marginally better than bottle feeding for a couple of things but the evidence is nothing like that you will hear from the propaganda machine. There are also a lot of commercial vested interests in breastfeeding that I was not aware of. The author, and I myself, is at pains to express she is not anti-breastfeeding. But breastfeeding is being pushed on women quite forcefully and this can cause a lot of pain and heartache when it doesn't work out. A great read if you're feeling the awful guilt of not being able to breastfeed and really put mum ins at ease about the whole thing.

This was the most insightful book I’ve read in ages. I genuinely believe that any expectant parent, grandparent and any people who are involved in early child care need to read this book to get a better understanding of the misinformation we are fed, so that we as parents and care givers can make fully informed choices.I used this to defend myself when being harassed during my pregnancy and early weeks of motherhood; just brilliant.

Love this book. Was a massive reassurance when I found I couldn’t breastfeed. It’s well researched and data driven. Winner.

We have all heard the story how breastfeeding is the best a mother can do for her child. All kinds of health benefits, mental and social benefits are associated with breastfeeding. This belief is so widespread and dominant that women who cannot breastfeed (enough), or for whom breastfeeding is extremely painful, etc. face incredible moral pressure in our society. In many circles, not breastfeeding one's child implies being a bad mother.In "Lactivism", Courtney Jung fact-checks all of the beliefs associated with breastfeeding meticulously, providing historical background, presenting the outcomes of scientific investigations transparently and fairly, and sharing the stories of many women. The book is extremely well-written, entertaining, empathetic, and engaged."Lactivism" is not a critique of breastfeeding. What it shows though, is how the call for breastfeeding is wildly exaggerated. The health benefits of breastfeeding are negligible - at least in countries with clean water. I knew this already from studying the research that is frequently used to demonstrate how important breastfeeding is, but Jung does an excellent job at showing just how meaningless the findings are. There are no mental benefits of breastfeeding, and as far as social benefits go, Jung raises important questions. If the mental and health-related benefits of breastfeeding are exaggerated, why is it that so many working moms spend hundreds of hours pumping breastmilk at work? If what is really important for childrens' mental health is bonding - which they do not get from bottled breastmilk served by nannies (but which works perfectly well without breastfeeding) - why aren't we affording parents more time with their children in capitalistic societies like the USA?Over the past year, I have read a lot of literature on childrearing, and the moral imperative of breastfeeding has been pervasive: "Breast is best" etc. What is systematically ignored, is that many women suffer significantly from breastfeeding, feeling pain around the clock, being stuck in a rhythm of having to feed the child every three hours for up to an hour each time, day and night. Internet fora are full of the reports of depressed women, struggling to keep up breastfeeding, dealing with pain and anxiety, e.g., because their breast don't produce enough milk, while nurses, physicians and midwives keep telling them they just need to try harder. Courtney Jung's book is an important contribution to setting things straight. I sincerely hope that her messages will sink in over the coming decade. Institutions like the World Health Organization need to begin taking a more nuanced stance towards breastfeeding in the future, and scientists need to stop turning every marginal effect they find as an indication of the superiority of breastmilk.

Beautifully written and very matter of fact. Liked how it was writtten and supplied me with so much knowledge and facts. I made the choice before we even got pregnant that I wouldn't breastfeed and I got a lot of grief over it. This book help restore my confined experience and also have some facts to through at people when they tried to guilt me in to what they believe is socially acceptable. Thank you so much Courtney Jung for writing this book! Also I have to mention that the author breastfeed both of her children so I think it was an unbiase book. Great read for anywho is thinking about not breastfeeding or can not produce milk.