Apart from the issue of how guilt is used or not in public health campaigns
about smoking and artificial feeding, respectively, we should be mindful of
what it means to breastfeed and what it means to stop smoking, in terms of
the effect on one's day to day life.
Ceasing to smoke does not require one to make alternative work and/or child
care arrangements, nor to take a leave from work in order to get non-smoking
established, though I'm sure there are former smokers who would dispute
that!  It requires firm resolve, and probably some support, but it doesn't
usually require the proximity of a breathing partner to keep the process of
smoking abstention going.  It doesn't require the use of workplace
facilities to exhale fresh air and store it to take home to one's child. 
And most importantly, it doesn't require the person to buck public opinion
about etiquette; actually, it helps them to get in line with it.
Breastfeeding does require the mother to be near her child, or to express
milk, store it, and bring it to her baby for feeds when she is away.  It may
require her to brave the glances and even comments of complete strangers who
haven't gotten the message that a woman breastfeeding is part of life and
they should get used to it.  While there is no doubt that there are
beneficial health effects from both behaviors, the nature and consequences
of the commitment required are quite different.  Legislation in recent years
has made not smoking the simplest choice; such is not the case for
breastfeeding in the US.  Using guilt or scaring someone into doing
something for which society has already laid the groundwork is not the same
as using guilt or fear to get them to do something that goes against a
number of significant obstacles in the culture in which they live.  
Before guilt or fear would work, I think the basic framework making
breastfeeding the path of least resistance need to be in place.  I'm not
convinced it would be a good approach even then, but certainly not before.
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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