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@bridgetmcgann.medsky.socialOct 7, 2026, 10:59 AM

Breastfeeding has šŸ¼competitionšŸ¼, and where there's commercial interest in health, denialism swoops in to fill info vacuums.

So we looked to other sciences long-targeted by denialism: climate, tobacco harms, & vaccines. Turns out, #BreastfeedingDenialism uses the same playbook, with 5 strategies:

Table titled "Breastfeeding Science Denialism: Five Strategies," showing tactics used to manufacture doubt in other sciences side by side with similar tactics targeting infant feeding. One example pair for each strategy: Minimization: the sugar industry blaming lack of exercise; "Fed is best," or "All that matters is a healthy baby. Misappropriation of science: tobacco keeping the science contested; cherry-picking studies Misrepresenting clinical standards: "too many too soon" vaccine claims; claims that clinicians "starve babies" by withholding formula. Appeals to cultural values: "nanny state" rhetoric; framing breastfeeding as oppressive and formula as liberating. Leveraging of authority: "More doctors smoke Camels"; Clinicians participating in industry-sponsored events. Adapted from McGann, Raimondi & Azad (2026), Maternal & Child Nutrition, with a QR code linking to the paper.
@bridgetmcgann.medsky.socialOct 7, 2026, 10:59 AM

ā€œ'Data-driven' economist says #breastfeeding doesn't matter.ā€
"Lactation consultants starve babies"

This is what #BreastfeedingDenialism looks like. Our new paper argues that addressing #misinformation and #CompassionateCare are NOT conflicting goals.

doi.org/10.1111/mcn....

šŸ§Ŗ šŸ›Ÿ #MedSky #PedSky

Screenshot. Breastfeeding Science Denialism: Unpacking a Hidden Harm Bridget McGann Christina Raimondi Meghan B. Azad In the digital age, misinformation about infant feeding threatens decades of public health efforts to revive breastfeeding.Increasingly sophisticated marketing exploits cultural knowledge gaps, serving commercial interests and exacerbating food insecurity from climate change and migration. Public health literature acknowledges that suboptimal breastfeeding rates are due to systemic failures, not personal ones. However, our social responsibility to parents includes promoting public literacy in infant feeding and breastfeeding and lactation science. Recognizing breastfeeding misinformation as science denialism unlocks fieldā€tested communication tools from domains longā€targeted by denialism, such as climate change and vaccines. We describe five breastfeeding denialism strategies that echo tactics historically used to manufacture doubt about scientific consensus (cut off)