Breastfeeding is often described as one of the most natural things in the world. Yet for millions of women, it is also one of the most physically demanding, emotionally challenging, and poorly supported experiences they will ever face.
A recent article in The Economist exposed a startling reality: despite decades of public health campaigns promoting breastfeeding, researchers still know remarkably little about many of the problems women encounter. There are only a few hundred studies on low milk supply in women, compared with tens of thousands on erectile dysfunction. The comparison is not about competing priorities. Rather, it highlights a longstanding pattern in medical research: conditions that affect women, particularly in relation to reproduction and care, remain underfunded, under-researched, and undervalued.
This neglect has consequences far beyond the healthcare system. It affects women’s health, economic participation, workplace equality, and bodily autonomy. Breastfeeding is not simply a maternal issue. It is a gender equality issue.
The Cost of Treating Women’s Pain as Normal
Many women encounter difficulties when breastfeeding. Pain, cracked nipples, mastitis, blocked ducts, latching problems, low milk supply, oversupply, exhaustion, and anxiety are far more common than public narratives often suggest.
Yet women frequently report feeling abandoned when problems arise. Advice can range from contradictory to dismissive. In some cases, women are encouraged to try traditional remedies or simply persevere through pain rather than being offered evidence-based medical support. The underlying message is familiar: discomfort is part of motherhood, and women should learn to cope.
This reflects a broader pattern across women’s healthcare. Conditions linked to menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, fertility, and menopause have historically been under-researched and under-diagnosed. Women’s symptoms are more likely to be minimised, normalised, or attributed to emotional factors. Their suffering often remains invisible until it reaches crisis point.
Breastfeeding sits squarely within this pattern. For something that public health authorities rightly promote as beneficial for both mother and child, there remains a striking lack of investment in understanding why breastfeeding can be difficult and how those difficulties can be addressed.
The Forgotten Reality of Weaning
The gaps in support do not end once breastfeeding is established. Public discussions often focus on encouraging women to breastfeed for longer. Far less attention is given to what happens when women decide to stop.
Yet weaning can be physically and emotionally demanding. Women may experience pain, engorgement, infections, hormonal fluctuations, sleep disruption, and feelings of guilt or uncertainty. Despite this, professional guidance and research on ending breastfeeding remain limited.
This reveals an uncomfortable truth. Too often, breastfeeding policies focus on achieving targets rather than supporting women throughout the entire process.
Women’s choices are celebrated when they align with public health objectives. When they decide that breastfeeding is no longer possible, desirable, or compatible with their circumstances, support often disappears.
A genuinely woman-centred approach would recognise that autonomy includes the right both to breastfeed and to stop breastfeeding without stigma, pain, or unnecessary health risks.
When Workplaces Ignore Women’s Bodies
The lack of support extends beyond healthcare and into the workplace. For decades, European institutions have promoted gender equality in employment. Yet many workplaces remain designed around the assumption that workers do not have breastfeeding bodies or caregiving responsibilities.
Women returning to work while breastfeeding often face significant barriers. Many struggle to find appropriate spaces to express milk. In some workplaces, including public institutions and universities, women still report being directed to bathrooms or public toilets as the only available option.
The fact that this continues to happen in 2026 should concern anyone committed to gender equality. A toilet is not an appropriate place to prepare food for an infant. It is not a hygienic, private, or dignified environment for expressing milk. More fundamentally, requiring women to use such spaces sends a clear message: their needs have not been considered.
This is particularly troubling because workplace protections already exist. European legislation has long recognised the need to protect pregnant and breastfeeding workers. Occupational health and safety frameworks impose obligations on employers to assess risks and provide suitable conditions. Yet implementation remains uneven and often depends on individual women advocating for themselves. Too often, rights exist on paper while support remains absent in practice.
The Invisible Infrastructure of Care
The debate around breastfeeding reveals a broader problem in how societies value care. Across Europe, policymakers increasingly acknowledge the importance of care work. Yet the infrastructure that supports caregiving remains inadequate. Childcare shortages, unequal parental leave arrangements, inflexible working practices, and limited breastfeeding support all reflect the same underlying issue: care continues to be treated as a private responsibility rather than a collective concern.
Breastfeeding illustrates this contradiction perfectly. Governments encourage women to breastfeed because of the recognised health benefits. Employers celebrate family-friendly values. Universities and public institutions publish equality strategies. Yet when women need practical support, whether medical expertise, workplace facilities, or protection during weaning, they often find themselves navigating these challenges alone. The burden is individualised while the benefits are socialised.
From Individual Responsibility to Institutional Responsibility
The solution is not to pressure women to breastfeed more, nor to romanticise breastfeeding as a natural experience that requires little intervention. Instead, institutions must take responsibility.
That means investing in research on breastfeeding-related conditions and low milk supply. It means improving medical education so healthcare professionals can provide evidence-based advice rather than relying on outdated assumptions. It means recognising weaning as an important stage of maternal health. And it means ensuring that all workplaces, including universities and public institutions, provide clean, accessible, and dignified facilities for breastfeeding and expressing milk.
Most importantly, it means listening to women. The stories shared by mothers are remarkably consistent. They describe pain that was dismissed, questions that went unanswered, workplaces that were unprepared, and systems that expected them simply to endure.
These are not isolated experiences. They are symptoms of a structural problem. Breastfeeding is often portrayed as a private matter between a mother and her child. In reality, it sits at the intersection of healthcare, labour rights, gender equality, and social policy. Until institutions recognise this, women will continue to carry the burden of a system that praises breastfeeding while failing to support those who do it. And that is not a personal failure. It is a political one.