International Breastfeeding Symbol
Encyclopedia
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. It is recommended that mothers breastfeed for six months or...
Symbol was created by Matt Daigle, a graphic artist and father. He created the symbol in response to a contest hosted by Mothering magazine
Mothering (magazine)
Mothering is a magazine focused on natural mothering practices, which began publishing in 1976.-History:Mothering was founded in 1976, and in the 80's, Peggy O'Mara became editor and publisher....
. The winner was chosen in November 2006 out of a total of more than 500 entries. Daigle, who says his wife and son were the inspiration behind the symbol, signed the symbol over to the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.
Increasing cultural diversity and personal mobility have created a growing need for universal modes of communication. The International Breastfeeding Symbol was created in the style of the AIGA
Aiga
‘Aiga is a word in the Samoan language which means 'family.' The aiga is the family unit of Samoan society and differs from the Western sense in that it consists more than just a mother, father and children. The Samoan family, also referred to as an 'extended family' is based on the culture's...
symbol signs
Ideogram
An ideogram or ideograph is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by familiarity with prior convention; others convey their meaning through pictorial resemblance to a physical object, and thus may also be referred to as pictograms.Examples of...
commonly seen in public places. These signs need to be designed carefully because they need to be understood at a glance by most people without written descriptions explaining what they mean.
The International Breastfeeding Symbol was created specifically to address the perceived problem of not having a universally accepted and understood symbol for breastfeeding available in public places. The modern iconography representing infancy usually involves artificial feeding or soothing objects, like a nurser bottle icon or pacifier symbol. Nursing rooms traditionally use a baby bottle
Baby bottle
A baby bottle is a bottle with a teat to drink directly from. It is typically used by infants and young children when a mother does not breastfeed, or if someone cannot drink from a cup, for feeding oneself or being fed.In particular it is used to feed infant formula, expressed breast milk or...
symbol to designate what they are instead of a symbol of a mother nursing a child. The International Breastfeeding Symbol may be helpful in shifting the bottle-feeding cultural paradigm toward the biological norm of breastfeeding.
In July 2007, the International Breastfeeding Symbol site, dedicated to the new symbol, was launched. Examples of uses of the symbol include:
- In 2008, the South Sound Breastfeeding Network of the state of Washington, United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, featured the symbol in a "Breastfeeding Welcome Here" campaign. - In 2009, the symbol was to be posted at a Chick-fil-AChick-fil-AChick-fil-A |"fillet"]]) is a quick service restaurant chain headquartered in College Park, Georgia, United States, specializing in chicken entrées and is known for promoting the company founder's claims of Christian values. Long associated with the southern United States, where it has been a...
restaurant in Winter Park, FloridaWinter Park, FloridaWinter Park is a suburban city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 24,090 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 estimates, the city had a population of 28,083. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, United States, following a complaint by a restaurant customer that the manager of the restaurant had unlawfully asked her to cover her baby's head while breastfeeding.