The insufficient milk syndrome: A biocultural explanation

Abstract The authors discuss the "insufficient milk syndrome" associated with the decline of breastfeeding in the urbanizing world and offer a biocultural model to demonstrate its complex transcultural etiology. Rejecting the common explanation of insufficient milk reports as rationalizations of women no longer interested in breastfeeding, the authors suggest that the syndrome stems from the spread of nonbiological breastfeeding patterns in industrializing, urbanizing societies. This paper describes the syndrome and its effects on infant feeding patterns, explains the biocultural model, and considers some possible interventions to affect its course.