ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I discuss critical moments of significance that have influenced infant feeding and, more specifically, breastfeeding policy and practice in industrialised countries across the world. This includes discussion around the medicalisation of infant feeding and the marketing of breast-milk substitutes. The hospital is highlighted as the place in which breastfeeding became institutionally regulated and notions of how to feed infants became ideologically pervasive. I also focus upon breastfeeding within the fabric of women’s lives, acknowledging that there are multiple and complex influences upon their infant feeding decisions and experiences.
