–This post is part of our 10-year anniversary series “Breastfeeding is…”—
Breastfeeding is mammalian.
(Okay, there are also the non-mammals who “produce nutrient-rich elixirs” to feed their young, including flamingos, cockroaches and male emperor penguins, and a species of jumping spider.)
A mammal is an animal of the class Mammalia, an animal that suckles its young. Mammal is the 1800’s Englished form of the Latin “Mammalia” (1773). Dissecting the word further, it was coined in 1758 by Linnaeus for the class of animals from the neuter (things that have no gender) plural of Late Latin mammalis “of the breast.” [https://www.etymonline.com/word/mammal]
Predating language, milk and lactation are ancient; in fact, the origins may date as far back as 300 million years ago, according to scientist Mike Power, who curates and maintains the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s milk repository, as reported by Catherine Zuckerman. That makes mother’s milk older than dinosaurs!
Since those many, many million years ago, mother’s milk, the “magic potion”, has been shaped by natural selection and has diversified among the thousands of mammals that are living today, Katie Hinde has explained. Species specific milk has allowed mammals to live in environments in which the young could not otherwise survive and to cope with unreliable food sources. This evolution to support infants while they’re developing has led to important mammalian adaptations like complex social relationships, Hinde goes on. The first social (and sometimes the only) encounter for mammals, is with their mothers.
Juan Brines and Claude Billeaud so graciously offer “a testimony of gratitude and respect to women who have assumed the responsibility of breastfeeding their infants because without them the human species would not have existed” in Breast-Feeding from an Evolutionary Perspective.
Additional resources
Healthy Child Manitoba put together “Mammals: Feeding their babies since the beginning of time” which can be used as a breastfeeding lesson in a variety of settings.
Check out Hinde’s March Mammal Madness inspired by the NCAA College Basketball March Madness Championship Tournament. This year’s fun and results can be found here.
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As part of our celebration, we are giving away an online learning module with contact hours each week. Here’s how to enter into the drawings:
Email info@ourmilkyway.org with your name and “OMW is 10” in the subject line.
This week, in the body of the email, please share with us: What is one of your earliest memories of infant feeding?
Subsequent weeks will have a different prompt in the blog post.
We will conduct a new drawing each week over the 10-week period. Please email separately each week to be entered in the drawing. You may only win once. If your name is drawn, we will email a link with access to the learning module. The winner of the final week will score a grand finale swag bag, and this week we have made it to our tenth week celebrating Our Milky Way!