Breast-feeding in the United States reached a peak in 1982 after suffering an abysmal decline in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s which followed the introduction of the many conveniences afforded by infant formulas. Much effort, energy, and enthusiasm has been poured into the encouragement of women to breast-feed their infants for at least the first 6 months. In 1984, C. Everett Koop, MD, Surgeon General of the United States, said, "We must identify and reduce the barriers that keep women from beginning or continuing to breast-feed their infants."1 A major national effort followed the Surgeon General's Workshop on Breast-feeding and Human Lactation in 1984.2
ART. XLVIII.???Annual Reports of the Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine Hospital Service of the United States. For the fiscal years 1876 and 1877. 8vo. pp. 213. Washington, 1878