The Effect of Overcivilization on Maternity

History: The First Generation of American Pediatricians and Their Inadvertent Legacy to Breastfeeding

“…Still other physicians argued that "overcivilization"-that is, urbanization and industrialization-forced women to live "unnatural lives," not unlike "hot-house plants," and consequently their weakened bodies were unable to perform natural functions such as lactation. [13][14][15] These hypotheses coupled with the urgency of "the feeding question" provided long-maligned "baby doctors" their entrée into the world of mothers and children. With women apparently increasingly and inescapably unable to breastfeed, pediatricians, given their unique expertise in infant care, were the only professionals capable of finding a palatable substitute for fast disappearing human milk.…”