I don't think there's a shred of evidence that it matters who breastfeeds the kids. Tons of cultures have situations where someone other than the mother does so

I don't think there's a shred of evidence that it matters who breastfeeds the kids. Tons of cultures have situations where someone other than the mother does some (sometimes all) the feeding. The physical bonding is surely positive and the milk is the primary thing mammals have evolve to grow up on initially. Here's a source about the whole Nestle history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestlé_boycott https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestlé_boycott The simplistic impression I have is that in many places (U.S. included, but most tragic in poorer countries), there was a strong marketing campaign against breast-feeding in the mid 20th century, driven entirely by formula producers. I personally find this appalling even if formula were equally healthy. I find it comparable to the bottled-water advertising that is about ripping people off by getting them to avoid resources they already have on hand (in the case of bottled water, the resource of clean tap water in all the places that have it). The corporations here are more than happy if communities lose their capacity fo function independently. Dependence on the corporate products is the goal. And that's also the source of some of the safety products and other stuff being pushed through fear now.