Warning: Public health officials have determined that not breast-feeding may be hazardous to your baby's health.
There is no label like that affixed to cans of infant formula or tucked into advertisements, at least not yet. But that is the unambiguous message of a controversial government public health campaign encouraging new mothers to breast-feed for six months to protect their babies from colds, flu, ear infections, diarrhea and even obesity.
"Just like it's risky to smoke during pregnancy, it's risky not to breast-feed after," said Suzanne Haynes, senior scientific adviser to the Office on Women's Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
A two-year national breast-feeding awareness campaign that culminated this spring ran television announcements showing a pregnant woman thrown off a mechanical bull during ladies' night at a bar — and compared her behavior to failing to breast-feed. "You wouldn't take risks before your baby's born," the advertisement says. "Why start after?"
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has proposed requiring warning labels, on cans of infant formula and in advertisements, similar to those on cigarettes.
Child-rearing experts have long pointed to the benefits of breast-feeding, but critics say the new campaign has taken things too far and will make mothers who cannot breast-feed, or choose not to, feel guilty and inadequate.
Moreover, urging women to breast-feed exclusively is a tall order in a country where more than 60 percent of mothers of very young children work, federal law requires large companies to provide only 12 weeks' unpaid maternity leave and lactation leave is unheard of.
"I'm concerned about the guilt that mothers will feel," said Ellen Galinsky, president of the nonprofit Families and Work Institute. "It's hard enough going back to work."
Public health leaders say the scientific evidence for breast-feeding has grown so overwhelming that it is appropriate to recast their message to make clear that it is risky not to breast-feed.
This evidence supports the contention that breast-fed babies are less vulnerable to acute infectious diseases, including respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, experts say. Some studies also suggest that breast-fed babies are at lower risk for sudden infant death syndrome and serious chronic diseases later in life, including asthma, diabetes, leukemia and some forms of lymphoma, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Research on premature babies has even found that those given breast milk scored higher on IQ tests than those who were bottle-fed.