Pumps, patriarchy, and profits: the rise of breast pumping and “human milk feeding” and why preserving “breastfeeding” is important

Breastfeeding is a physiologically dynamic relationship between a mother and her child that is not replicated when an infant is fed expressed breastmilk, resulting in differences in health and developmental outcomes. However, pumping breastmilk is increasingly expected and normalized in many countries. It is also increasingly common in many countries for women to exclusively pump their milk and bottle-feed their infants without any direct breastfeeding. Alongside this, changes in language are being made with “breastfeeding” being replaced by “lactating” or “human milk feeding.” The trends in pumping and language marginalize the breastfeeding relationship and encourage treatment of women according to a male standard or patriarchy, to the detriment of women and children. The aim of this debate article is to discuss how lack of proper support for breastfeeding and workplaces assuming mother-infant separation encourage pumping over breastfeeding. This serves the corporate interests of breast pump manufacturers and the real or perceived corporate interests of employers, prioritizing profits ahead of the well-being of women and children. Normalization of pumping reduces expectations for proper breastfeeding support, adequate paid maternity leave, and workplace accommodations that allow for mother-infant proximity. Substituting “breastfeeding” with “lactating” or “human milk feeding” obscures the differences between breastfeeding and providing expressed breastmilk, undermining advocacy for breastfeeding support. A structural and social transformation that acknowledges the normativity of females is needed to uphold the rights and needs of women and children. This transformation values both women’s important reproductive work and their contributions to the workforce and society. Changes would include providing proper breastfeeding support at birth and thereafter, providing adequate paid maternity leave, reconfiguring workplace and childcare arrangements to better enable direct breastfeeding, and regulating marketing of breast pumps and commercial milk formula. Language should recognize the primacy of breastfeeding over “human milk feeding.” The normalization of pumping and “human milk feeding” is detrimental to women and children. “Breastfeeding” should be supported in practice and in language and in alignment with the human rights of women and children to breastfeed.