Possums Breastfeeding & Lactation articles which address overmedicalisation, paramedicalisation, and overtreatment of breastfeeding women and their babies
Dr Pamela Douglas13th of Dec 202515th of Dec 2025

PBL Intermediate: How to prevent unhelpful medicalisation and pathologisation of breastfeeding challenges
Why are breastfeeding women and their babies often unnecessarily pathologised?
Overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and overservicing arise due to a relative lack of effective clinical tools
Overmedicalisation and paramedicalisation in times of catastrophic environmental crisis
The bad bugs theory has resulted in catastrophic antimicrobial resistances
PBL Advanced: The worsening problem of low value health care in the field of breastfeeding and lactation medicine
Understanding the problem of overdiagnosis, paramedicalisation, and overtreatment in the care of breastfeeding women and infants
Defining terms: overmedicalisation, pathologising, overdiagnosis, overtreatment, paramedicalisation, and low value care in breastfeeding medicine
Low value health care is a worsening international problem in the field of breastfeeding medicine
The One Factor Fallacy (also the One Fix Fallacy or the One Study Fallacy) leads to overdiagnosis and overtreatment in unsettled infants and in breastfeeding pairs
What sociocultural or health system factors drive the increasing medicalisation and paramedicalisation of common infant care and breastfeeding problems?
Case study: 'cancelling' an evidence-based primary care innovation which offers alternatives to low value care for management of breastfeeding problems and unsettled infant behaviour
Common maternal or infant signs and symptoms which typically receive low value care
Low value care in the management of breast inflammation, nipple pain, and ankylofrenula
What drives overdiagnosis and overtreatment of restricted oral connective tissues in breastfeeding babies?
The international trend to overdiagnosis and overtreatment affects clinical approaches to lactation-related nipple pain and damage
The NDC Clinical Guidelines for lactation-related nipple wounds align with international paradigm shifts in wound care, including minimised antimicrobial use
The international trend to overdiagnosis and overtreatment affects clinical approaches to lactation-related inflammation of the breast stroma
ABM Clinical Protocol #36's distinction between inflammatory vs bacterial mastitis is unhelpful and promotes overuse of antibiotics
What is required in the practice of breastfeeding medicine if we're to minimise overmedicalisation, paramedicalisation, and overtreatment?
What is required in the practice of breastfeeding medicine if we're to minimise overmedicalisation, paramedicalisation, and overtreatment?
NDC scientific publications which called out overtreatment in care of breastfeeding problems and unsettled babies
The overmedicalisation problem: discussion UNDER DEVELOPMENT
Articles located in Free Resources section of possums.org
Why are breastfeeding women and their babies often unnecessarily pathologised?
Why do we overuse antimicrobials for breastfeeding problems? Dr Pamela Douglas comments during World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2022
The One Factor Fallacy (also the One Fix Fallacy or the One Study Fallacy) leads to overdiagnosis and overtreatment in unsettled infants and in breastfeeding pairs
