The impact of obstetric violence on breastfeeding: social hypogalactia and sovereignty

Ester Massó Guijarroan anthropologist and philosopher, is one of the key voices in the European IPOV Respectful Care project. Ester Massó analyzes how obstetric violence is an attack not only against the rights of mothers, but also against the health of the mother-baby dyad and, therefore, reveals itself as a global health problem.

In her article “Breastfeeding and obstetric violence: on the road to breastfeeding sovereignty“(2024), Ester Massó exposes how obstetric violence – often disguised as routine medical practices – has a direct impact on breastfeeding, which is now classified as a human right. To date, this impact has hardly been made visible or addressed independently.

The concept of “social hypogalactia” (coined in this article) helps to understand why international breastfeeding rates remain low: WHO reports that only 43% of newborns are exclusively breastfed during the first months of life. This has a crucial negative impact on both babies and mothers. This alarming figure is not due to a lack of will or ability on the part of mothers: Ester Massó points out how health systems and society itself generate hostile environments (despite institutional propaganda) that make it difficult for mothers to breastfeed as they wish.

Practices such as unnecessary cesarean sections, medically unjustified inductions, routine separation of mother and baby after delivery or excessive interventions, all of which have already been addressed as obstetric violence, are not neutral procedures. These actions also upset the delicate hormonal and physiological balance that is essential for initiating breastfeeding. As specialized studies underscore and WHO itself recommends, skin-to-skin contact and initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of life are key to the success of breastfeeding, as well as to the overall health and well-being of the mother-baby dyad. However, these essential practices are often interrupted by avoidable medical interventions, within the constellation of obstetric-gynecological violence.

Breast milk is a baby’s first immune shield, rich in living nutrients that protect against infection, promote intestinal health and reduce the risk of long-term chronic diseases (including perinatal mental health of mother and baby). Not significantly encouraging mothers to breastfeed has an unparalleled impact on global public health. According to The Lancet Breastfeeding Series (2023), breastfeeding could prevent 823,000 infant deaths and 20,000 maternal deaths worldwide each year.

To defend the right to breastfeed is to protect the first food security system known to mankind, but not only: breastfeeding is not only about nutrition. It is a form of corporeality and relationship. Ensuring respectful care during childbirth is not only a (bio)ethical issue: it is also a global public health priority and a human rights imperative, protecting the first and most fundamental right of the mother-baby dyad: the right to breastfeed, breastfeeding sovereignty, in its most complex and biocultural sense.

References:

Massó Guijarro, Ester (2024): “Breastfeeding and obstetric violence: on the road to a breastfeeding sovereignty”. MEDICA REVIEW 12(1): 10-23. https://edulab.es/revMEDICA/article/view/5417

Contact us:

Ester Massó GuijarroDepartment of Philosophy I – University of Granada
Email: ester@ugr.es

You can also consult the interviews:

Interview on the radio of the University of Granada about the article, broadcasted on the occasion of 8M. Available at: Obstetric violence and breastfeeding – Canal UGR

Local press coverage: Ideal Granada echoed the study in the following article: Un estudio de la UGR denuncia el perjuicio de la violencia obstétrica sobre la lactancia (A UGR study denounces the harm of obstetric violence on breastfeeding).

Article in the national newspaper EL PAÍS, in the section Mamas & Papas: Por un mundo que deja de ser hostil con la lactancia (For a world that is no longer hostile to breastfeeding).