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We’ve all heard it: breast is best. And no one ever questions it. Oh sure there are situations where the particulars mean breastmilk isn’t possible, but everyone concedes that it still would have been best.

But what does this phrase really mean? By using the word “best” what connotations are connected to breastfeeding? Let’s face it, best is the goal in everything we do, but in many situations we have to settle for second-best or even less than best.

And how does this message feed into formula advertiser’s plans? Best for Babes recently shared Dou-la-la’s delightfully light-hearted yet meaningful look at how formula companies can use the phrase “breast is best” to undermine breastfeeding. The dialogue is taken straight from the pages of the popular TV show Mad Men and demonstrates how by setting up breast as best, formula companies can also make it look like breast is almost impossible to achieve.

Over on Nurtured Child, Fleur also deconstructs the message from a media literacy point of view in her post “Why Formula Companies Love ‘Breast is Best’”

So why do formula companies love “breast is best”? Well, as outlined in Diane Wiessingers very insightful article “Watch Your Language“, “breast is best” frames formula feeding as the norm and breastfeeding as a nice extra if you’re able to do it. The message that parents receive has become “breast is best, but formula is OK too”. “Breast is best” allows formula companies to say “We fully support breastfeeding. See – it says so on our website and products”. It allows the companies to give the appearance of caring about breastfeeding while they go about undermining it.

Like Dou-la-la’s post she goes on to explain how formula companies use their supposed “support” of breastfeeding to make moms feel like while breastfeeding is the goal it’s a near impossible one and it’s okay to use the easy alternative (formula). Fleur’s post is even more detailed in that she looks at actually photo ads from Nestle to show how the portrayal of breastfeeding is always, in some way, negative.

She concludes by saying:

Formula companies spend a lot of money on getting their marketing right. To me, that means if the formula companies are happy to use the phrase “Breast is Best” on their cans of formula, then it’s definitely a phrase that we should not be using to try to encourage more moms to breastfeed. Breast is not best, it is normal.

What do you think? Have you noticed the way formula companies try to “brand” breastfeeding as something that’s both difficult and still somewhat socially unacceptable? How can we discuss breastfeeding in a way that cannot be co-opted by formula advertising? If you’ve chosen formula, did you do so because you thought breastfeeding would be too difficult or too hard to achieve? How many of those “guides” sponsored by formula companies did you have in those early days?

Feel free to provide your thoughts via Facebook, Twitter or by emailing babyfriendlynl AT gmail.com.