It's all about the milk!

Friends of Breastfeeding has officially adopted the term “human milk” instead of “breast milk” in all its communications. Orla Shanaghy looks at the reasons behind this move.

Cow's milk. Goat's milk. Sheep's milk. Breast milk.

Spot the odd one out?

If you need to mull it over, consider this in the meantime: human beings are the only species on the planet in which the milk that mothers make for their babies is named after the container it comes in, rather than the contents.

Could this terminological issue be related, even in some small way, to the current poor rates of breastfeeding in large parts of the Western world?

Living in Ireland, many of us are aware that mentioning the word “breast” in public (or even in private) can be the cause of blushes and awkwardness. This is because in our culture, the human female breast has become associated exclusively with sexuality, to the detriment of its other, original function as a source of nourishment for babies and children.

Recent discussions at Friends of Breastfeeding led us to consider why we humans focus so much on the breast rather than the milk it produces. After all, the milk is the main event! As one member so succinctly put it, “We don't say “cow's teat milk”, do we?”

A small number of mothers who experience difficulty with putting their baby to the breast express their milk and feed it to their baby in a bottle or from a spoon. These babies are still getting their mothers' milk, just from a different container. Nobody would suggest that these babies are not getting breast milk, but with breast-focused terminology, there is no one word to describe how these babies are fed. This is a shame, as their mothers are going to more lengths than most to ensure their babies get their milk.

The term “human milk” circumvents all these issues. It takes the focus off the breast, off the container, and puts it on the milk itself, that wonderful substance that is individually tailored not only to our specific species, but to each individual baby.

Friends of Breastfeeding hopes that adopting this term will go some way towards reminding us all that we need as a culture to de-obsess about the container that it comes in, and re-focus on human milk, for human babies.

Orla Shanaghy is a mother, writer and member of Friends of Breastfeeding. Her blog is at curmumgeon.wordpress.com.