Re: "Got mother's milk?" by Erika Gebel, Aug. 20.

Breast-feeding is important, not just for women and children, but also for communities, governments, hospitals and workplaces. The societal benefits of breast-feeding are underrecognized.

It helps reduce spending on health care and cuts the environmental burden resulting from the production and disposal of infant formula. It also lowers costs for public programs such as the special supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

Workplaces need to provide clean and private spaces for women to breast-pump. Our society needs to undergo a cultural shift so it sees breast-feeding as normal.

Esther K. Chung

Associate professor of pediatrics
Jefferson Medical College and the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children
Philadelphia

echung@momobile.org