IS PROMOTING BREASTFEEDING AS USELESS AS THE PROMOTION OF LOVE ? Di Michel Odent – www.birthpsychology.com INTRODUCTION THE PROMOTION OF LOVE IS ANCIENT

We do not need long arguments to convince anyone that love has been promoted since time immemorial. Spiritual heroes, religious leaders, philosophers, poets, moralists and philanthropists of all kinds have used a great diversity of terms to encourage the expression of love's many facets. According to the context they refer to compassion, altruism, selflessness, charity, generosity, bounty, humanitarianism, mercy, forgiveness. Since the word 'love' has a positive connotation in most languages, it might be that its promotion has been effective. But, when considering the behavior of twenty-first century humans, we don't need long arguments either to doubt the actual benefits of the promotion of love.