Bottle feeding with infant formula has been used for a long time in very rich countries, and it seems to be so scientific; it must surely be a superior way of feeding my baby?
The old doctor reassures her: Infant formula is only a crude imitation of breast milk, made from cow’s milk. It was actually very unsafe for babies until the 1920’s. Doctors then knew little about the many wonderful properties of human milk, since no-one had studied these. Soon commercial companies saw that infant formula was a product which could earn them a lot of money, since parents always are willing to spend money on what they think is the best for their babies. Inevitably the infant formula manufacturers began to sell these new products very actively. Unfortunately they were helped in this by doctors who believed that artificial feeding was superior to breastfeeding. Also doctors found that it was easier for them to advise mothers about bottle-feeding than about breastfeeding – which they had never been taught about in their medical education. The mother still wonders: The health nurse told me that just last month she was fortunate enough to have some free infant formula donated
