Tender Gift: Breastfeeding

by Dana Raphael, Margaret Mead (Foreword by)

An anthropologist explores prevailing attitudes toward breastfeeding, detailing its benefits, dispelling current misconceptions, and urging women to develop the maternal role more fully.

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 1955

About the author

Dr. Dana Raphael, 1925-2016, of Fairfield, CT well-known medical anthropologist, writer and lecturer, who was best known for her work in supportive behavior and breastfeeding.

Reviews

[Robyn Roche-paull]

A classic in breastfeeding literature...she gets it! Out-of-print and hard to find.

[Cal]

somewhat outdated and with clear biases (e.g. a mention of areolas as being the pink part of the breast), this book is surprisingly a treatise not for breastfeeding, but more for families to organize together to create doulas to support the new mom, whether or not she breastfeeds. it does postulate that support for the new mom is especially crucial to establish breastfeeding (for those moms that want to do so) and can prevent anxiety and potential failure, but makes numerous mentions of how, in western societies, it is not usually a matter of life or death to the infant if it is breastfed or not. so instead the focus is to promote affectionate care from the mother, by giving her the supportive space to be with her baby.
it also offers brief sections that covers studies on other mammals and their group dynamics around birth, matrescence, and mother care habits, as well as evolutionary theories as to how the breast was formed and why (though there are better updated explanations about the latter now).