Article Review: Why Breastfeeding Matters and Its Limitations
This paper critically reviews Lauren McGrath's 2015 article "This Is Why Breastfeeding Is So Important," published in Healthy Woman. The review acknowledges the article's well-supported scientific arguments regarding breastfeeding's protective benefits against asthma, diabetes, obesity, and infection, including the role of colostrum as an early immune defense. However, it challenges the article's claim that breastfeeding is easier for working mothers, its failure to address women who cannot produce sufficient milk, and its potentially judgmental tone. The review further argues that the article overlooks important socioeconomic factors, noting that correlations between breastfeeding and child health outcomes may partly reflect the advantages of higher income rather than breastfeeding alone.
- Overview of McGrath's Article and Its Scientific Claims: Summary of breastfeeding benefits and colostrum argument
- Critique of the Working-Mother Argument: Challenges claim breastfeeding is easier for working mothers
- Concerns About Tone and Inclusivity: Article's tone may alienate mothers who cannot breastfeed
- Socioeconomic Factors and the Limits of Correlation: Wealth, not breastfeeding alone, may explain health outcomes
- Conclusion: Poverty reduction essential alongside breastfeeding promotion
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What makes this paper effective
- The review balances acknowledgment of the source article's strengths with pointed, logically grounded criticisms, demonstrating critical reading skills.
- The argument escalates effectively — moving from scientific nuance to practical barriers to structural critique — giving the review a clear sense of progression.
- The correlation-versus-causation challenge in the final paragraph is the paper's strongest analytical move, situating a health claim within a socioeconomic context.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates the concession-rebuttal structure: it grants the source article scientific credibility before systematically identifying gaps in its reasoning. This technique signals intellectual fairness while preserving the writer's critical stance.
Structure breakdown
The review opens with a summary of McGrath's main claims and their scientific basis, then transitions into two layers of critique: practical (pumping difficulty, insufficient milk supply, inflexible work schedules) and structural (socioeconomic bias, correlation vs. causation). The conclusion reframes the health issue as one requiring poverty intervention alongside breastfeeding promotion.
Overview of McGrath's Article and Its Scientific Claims
According to McGrath (2015), breastfeeding offers an important source of protection for infants, guarding against asthma, diabetes, obesity, respiratory infections, and ear infections. McGrath also explains the scientific rationale behind these benefits, noting that the colostrum transmitted through the mother's breast milk functions as what she calls the infant's first vaccine — an early immune defense that formula cannot replicate. These scientific arguments are persuasive in establishing that breastfeeding is optimal for child health in many, and perhaps most, instances.
Critique of the Working-Mother Argument
However, McGrath's claim that breastfeeding is easier for working women — on the grounds that breastfed children are less likely to fall ill — is not necessarily true for mothers who find pumping cumbersome and expensive. The article also fails to acknowledge that many women do not produce sufficient milk for their infants, a physiological reality that renders breastfeeding impossible regardless of a mother's intentions or commitment.
Concerns About Tone and Inclusivity
The article's advocacy, while well-intentioned, risks adopting a judgmental tone that may leave women who are unable to breastfeed feeling like inadequate mothers. McGrath would strengthen her argument by offering greater reassurance to those who cannot breastfeed. Beyond individual physiology, there are many aspects of women's lives — such as laboring long hours or working multiple jobs — that make breastfeeding difficult or impossible. Women in low-income situations, in particular, often face inflexible schedules that create significant barriers to breastfeeding. By failing to take these social considerations into account, McGrath weakens rather than strengthens her overall case.
Conclusion
Addressing poverty — not simply promoting breastfeeding — is a critical component of improving the health of both children and mothers. A more comprehensive public health approach would acknowledge the structural inequalities that limit breastfeeding access while simultaneously working to reduce the socioeconomic disparities that drive poor health outcomes across all populations.
References
McGrath, L. (2015). This is why breastfeeding is so important. Healthy Woman. Retrieved from https://www.healthywomen.org/content/blog-entry/why-breastfeeding-so-important
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