{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T23:57:48Z","timestamp":1788220668698,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"9","content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Med Ethics"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>References to the \u2018natural\u2019 are common in public health messaging about breastfeeding. For example, the WHO writes that \u2018Breast milk is the natural first food for babies\u2019 and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a breastfeeding promotion campaign called \u2018It\u2019s only natural\u2019, which champions breastfeeding as the natural way to feed a baby. This paper critically examines the use of \u2018natural\u2019 language in breastfeeding promotion by public health and medical bodies. A pragmatic concern with selling breastfeeding as \u2018natural\u2019 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, \u2018natural\u2019 evokes specific and controversial conceptions of gender and motherhood.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medethics-2017-104455","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,4,21]],"date-time":"2018-04-21T16:15:27Z","timestamp":1524327327000},"page":"615-620","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Examining the use of \u2018natural\u2019 in breastfeeding promotion: ethical and practical concerns"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"44","author":[{"given":"Jessica","family":"Martucci","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1478-6609","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anne","family":"Barnhill","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,4,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"2020050722465443000_44.9.615.1","unstructured":"American Academy of Pediatrics. 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