@article {Martucci615, author = {Jessica Martucci and Anne Barnhill}, title = {Examining the use of {\textquoteleft}natural{\textquoteright} in breastfeeding promotion: ethical and practical concerns}, volume = {44}, number = {9}, pages = {615--620}, year = {2018}, doi = {10.1136/medethics-2017-104455}, publisher = {Institute of Medical Ethics}, abstract = {References to the {\textquoteleft}natural{\textquoteright} are common in public health messaging about breastfeeding. For example, the WHO writes that {\textquoteleft}Breast milk is the natural first food for babies{\textquoteright} and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a breastfeeding promotion campaign called {\textquoteleft}It{\textquoteright}s only natural{\textquoteright}, which champions breastfeeding as the natural way to feed a baby. This paper critically examines the use of {\textquoteleft}natural{\textquoteright} language in breastfeeding promotion by public health and medical bodies. A pragmatic concern with selling breastfeeding as {\textquoteleft}natural{\textquoteright} is that this may reinforce the already widespread perspective that natural options are presumptively healthier, safer and better, a view that works at cross-purposes to public health and medicine in other contexts. An additional concern is that given the history of breastfeeding in the USA, {\textquoteleft}natural{\textquoteright} evokes specific and controversial conceptions of gender and motherhood.}, issn = {0306-6800}, URL = {https://jme.bmj.com/content/44/9/615}, eprint = {https://jme.bmj.com/content/44/9/615.full.pdf}, journal = {Journal of Medical Ethics} }