[Breast feeding as "alternative" nutrition? An orientation aid in the field spanning ideology and current status]

Recommending breast feeding supports a trend "back to nature". However, there are believers in the unbiased goodness of nature, who claim effects of mothers milk, e.g. protection from the evils of civilization, that are not confirmed by current scientific knowledge. As nature is not uniquely good (it feeds the donkey and the lion), and as biology is not perfect, breast feeding does not guarantee an uneventful infancy and childhood. There is even a pathology of breast feeding that the pediatrician should be familiar with.- The proven benefits, claimed effects, and some risks of breast feeding are reviewed on the basis of research results, and conclusions are drawn to make breast feeding as uneventful an experience as possible. Potential fields of research are being identified.